From: David Poehlman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: what we have to contend with:Fw: From today's Tech
Update
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS Xby
the blind" <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, 3 November, 2008, 2:22 PM
Though it is not always mentioned, when the os is updated,
something about
vo gets updated as well because there is so much in the os
that is reflected
in vo.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Eickmeier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the
use of Mac OS X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: what we have to contend with:Fw: From
today's Tech Update
I agree with what people have said here about the mac and
voiceover.
You spend the money on a mac, you get VoiceOver, and as the
OS is
updated, Voiceover may get updated as well. No haveing to
pay every
couple of years to maintain a JAWS or window-eyes SMA,and
if the oS
gets updated, no waiting for updates to the screen reader
either. On
Nov 2, 2008, at 3:02 PM, David Poehlman wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: From today's Tech Update
I can think of one good reason to continue with
Windows or perhaps
two even
if everything else is equal. the first reason is a
matter of
preference but
many users may find it compelling. Consider speech.
As far as I
know,
Eloquence, Via Voice and Dectalk are not available for
Macs. I've
heard the
new synthesizer Mac has added and I am not impressed.
It has the same
problems I've heard with all of the newer type of
synthesizers,
incorrect
inflections and more words pronounced oddly or slurred
than I find
acceptable. According to the promotional material,
the synthesizer
also
simulates breathing before long passages. I don't
want a
synthesizer to
pretend to breathe. I want it to read during the time
it is
designed to
pretend to breathe and not waste my time. The new Mac
synthesizer
may be as
responsive as Apple claims, I have no way to know
since I heard a
recording
of it and didn't use it. However, many blind
people may very much
want to
continue to use the speech they currently use in
Windows or when
upgrading
to a g u i operating system from something else. What
about hardware
synthesizers such as Double Talk or Tripple Talk that
blind people
may want
to use. Do they loose access to them if they use a
Mac?
The second reason is one Mike mentioned. I am not
saying this is or
is not
the case. As with Mike, I pose the question but in a
different way.
I currently use four screen-readers. I usually use
JAWS but I have a
Window-eyes demo on my machine, NVDA, and I use System
Access to Go
when it
does something better than the other screen-readers.
Since I
haven't used
Macs, I can't evaluate this but the question
arises as to whether
having
access to so many options provides better access to
certain programs
or to
certain web sites. There are times when I get
markedly better
access to a
web site using something other than JAWS and times
when JAWS
provides the
best access. There are times when a feature in JAWS
gives me more
convenient access to some aspect of a program. As
with Mike, I am
skeptical
that development of a screen-reader facing no
competition will equal
development when there is meaningful competition.
Also, I question
whether
any single screen-reader can possibly deal as well
with a large
number of
programs as having different screen-readers with
different
characteristics
and variations of features.
Isn't it interesting how many people complain
about Microsoft being a
monopoly yet they are not the least bit bothered by
the fact that
there is
literally only one screen-reader for the Mac? This is
inconsistent.
I'm not advocating that anyone use any particular
operating system.
I have
consistently said that people should use what meets
their needs and
what
they like. But I am not convinced that using Windows
doesn't have
advantages. Using a Mac may have advantages but that
doesn't mean
that
Windows may not have advantages not found in the Mac.
It's
unfortunate that
so many Mac users discuss the Mac with missionary zeal
and religious
fervor.
It lowers their credibility. I don't see Windows
users doing the same
thing. Whenever anyone is too fanatical about
anything, I become
suspicious.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jude DaShiell"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: From today's Tech Update
Apple has lots of user's groups in existence
and not everybody who
uses
one of Apple's computers is connected with one
of those groups or
attends
meetings regularly to their cost. Also not every
Apple user knows
about
http://www.macupdate.com/ or
http://www.versiontracker.com/
either. The
windows users could even come up with more
software too if they
camped out
on http://www.versiontracker.com/ too because that
site offers
software
links and information for both sets of operating
systems. By now
we all
of us know about the mac accessibility email lists
which is more
than many
sighted people know. Those same sighted people
who use mac's can
use the
same software those of us who use VoiceOver use
because VoiceOver
works
the way it does. So sighted users can use unison
as well as I can.
That's
an accessible newsgroup reader that works with
VoiceOver but not
all mac
software does yet. As to the complaint about
mac's and viruses, rest
assured Apple and those in the user's groups
keep current with actual
threats and all of them know it's only a
matter of time until those
threats become actual viruses. But here's
something to think about
for
now. One of the computer publications did a poll
of security
professionals and learned that when those security
professionals
have to
do their work given a choice of a windows machine
or a mac, the mac
would
be their machine of choice. One more thing to
keep in mind, Snow
Leopard
will fix the problems Apple found after Leopard
got released and
some of
those will be security optimizations. So Apple
isn't standing still
either. So long as Apple continues offering
better operating
systems than
Vista and I'm alive I see no reason to spend
money on windows.
