Hi Michael, Your story about Silver Light wasn't in doubt. I know of several people with the same sort of story, and unfortunately for the moment that sort of thing is what we have to put up with as a blind user. We don't have to like it, but accept that is how it is for the time being.
In any case I do have high hopes things will change and will eventually get better. I know a lot of VI users are upset about Microsoft's change to a modern UI, dislike some of the things they are use to, but at the same time UI Automation and other accessibility technologies are making things better for a blind user on Windows at the same time. Its a bit of a mixed blessing and only time will tell how successful it is in bridging the gap for sighted and blind users. As far as your discussion on choice I don't want to spend a lot of time on that subject, but I will say that is one of the reasons I have become a Linux supporter over the last few years. Although, I generally use Gnome 3.x as my personal desktop I can choose other options. I don't have to necessarily stick with one single graphical user interface. There are several to choose from and have varying degrees of accessibility such as Gnome, Mate, Unity, Xfce, KDE, etc. It gives me the power to customize the OS and user interface to suit my preferences which is not how things are done in Windows. Cheers! On 1/11/15, Michael Gauler <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, it might be true, that standard IT training material doesn't cover > accessibility. > But the story of a corporation's web services like online database and > online banking system using Silverlight was in fact true. > The sad fact was that one trainer had JAWS knowledge allthough he was fully > > sighted, while the other trainer was totally blind. > At that time JAWS 10 was the latest available release and neither of us > could access that web site properly without sighted assistance. > But enough of that now. > I really hope that the next few years will bring more accessibility features > > into Windows. > I also would like it if someone either rewrote older games where allowed or > > that some kind of emulator or virtual machine configuration would be > distributed which can be used by blind people to play some older games. > I also think that Microsoft should focus more on internal changes for > Windows than inventing a new user interface every two major releases or so. > I know that not everyone liked the optical design of Modern UI, regardless > of what new technology or hardware support Windows 8 brought. > If Windows could be more like linux where you could permanently choose which > > desktop you want to use, it would probably do more good for Windows, because > > then people (sighted and blind) could choose during the installation which > components they want to use. > In Linux you can use Gnome or KDE (if that's still up and running). > If you should do so as a blind user is obviously another story, but in > theory you can choose. > And that's something you could not officially with the ribbons in MS Office > > 2007 and newer over the menus from Office 2003. > Same went for the Classic (XP start menu) to the Windows Vista/7 start menu > > up to no conventional start menu in Windows 8/8.1. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
