Ok, can any of the staff members confirm this? Is it really so, that if you are blind, stuck with whatever screen reader you want, you simply HAVE NO CHOICE, but to stick with MicroSoft products; no matter what those guys may think to be fun for you.
Well, my question gets highly interesting, even the more so, as the development moves on. More and more computers, that you pick up from the store, noaday, come all preloaded with a ton of software. Not only the operating system, as were the case a few years ago; but AntiVirus, Backup utilities, CD/DVD burning utilities - you name it. And, lately, I notice, quite a few with some kind of office suite. The most common one of the preloaded office suites - next to Office 2007 (from guess who), which I have heard qutite a few comments about - is OpenOffice (where Java support breaks us off). Then, a search on places like EBay, brings out Corel Office as a good number three. And, the last few days, I notice here on the list, we have heard about another suite - which I actually ave given a try, but find quite slow and worksome - Easy Office. If it was that easy, you just could throw out the 'trash' they preload the computers nowaday, well, you would be left with a feeling, that you really have better use for your money, than to buy trash. But, at least one computer manufacturer, lately started to block your chances of uninstalling certian ADDON software. Only way you can do it, is to call the manufacturer, give them your credit card number, and after a second or ten - when they have charged you US$50 - you get an uninstall code. My new computer was - fortunately - not of that brand. Still it had stuff on it I didn't want. Have you for instance tried to get rid of Norton lately? Yes, go to their hoepage and download the uninstaller. All it does is to come up with one of these NASTY - yet ooooh so popular - graphic boxes, showing you a code, which you have to retype into an edit box. Helpful, for the one sitting on his own, stuck with the screen reader? If ever GW, or whoever else, could make a way around, how to read these confirmation graphics; you would have served many a person a favor. Fact is, that WE users are like most people: SICK & TIRED of always having to be in the hands of MicroSoft. And, yet, it seems this is not only a problem of WE. Other screen readers do have some cracks too. Yet, it seems like some of them are in the path of doing something about it? Am I saying GW ain't? NO, I just wonder what is being done. Is it GW's idea to make WE only optimal with MS products, or do the staff have any particular plans as to open up for at least one other alternative? from before, the blind user is not just left with the expense of a new coputer. He even has to pick up a screen reader, and maybe even a Braille display. If he is forced - at top of all of this - to buy MS Office (which can range everything from $100, to five times that price); it might just make him somehow reluctant. Also, the screen readers grow - like all the rest of the software - eating more and more resources and power off from the system. This means, that even if you have a system, which runs nicely with your old screen reader, but then you want some of the new features (scripting or whatever else), you might just end up having to buy a new computer. And - wel take a guess - what is on that new computer? Three tons of software, that might be handy, nice, great, and even just what you are looking for; ... but, the screen reader can't do the job! Money for a new computer, money for upgrading the screen reader - and you are stuck with your 'good' old software... You see my frustrating point? OK, back to opic: Has anyone figured out a setfile/script for ANY alternative office pack? you name it Corel, EasyOffice, or heywire - I don't mind the name - just think we are in the line for getting hold of a cheaper alternative, to MS Office. Even if it can't do all THE FANCY STUFF, of MS Office - whcih I guess most of us never uses anyway. ----- Original Message ----- From: erik burggraaf To: David Cc: [email protected] Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 2:49 PM Subject: Re: Requesting setfile/script Hi David. I seem to remember some one saying when window-eyes 6.0 came out about how nice all the microsoft office features are, but what about corel stuff? The gw staff reported at the time that corel was flat disinterested in working with gw micro. The new script functionality definitely opens up posibilities for third party extentions, but unless corel's stance has changed in the past year regarding accessibility, it's doubtful that gw staff will invest much in it. Best, Erik erik burggraaf Certified Technician Assistive Computing LTD Support and training Sales department: 888-828-2445 Support and Training: 888-255-5194 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website coming soon On 21-Aug-08, at 12:10 PM, David wrote: On one of my computers, there is installed Corel WordPerfect X3 Office suite. The latest setfile I can see in the setfile manager, for WordPerfect, is for WP12. And I tried to load that one. Seems like it works quite ok, from the short test of mine, with the WordPerfect text editor, itself. But the WP Office suite also contains a spreadsheet - Quattro Pro. I tried to open it, and loaded one of my MS Excel spreadsheet into it. It loaded OK. But when moving the cursor up/down, with the arrow keys, Win-Eyes does not speak anything. The Braille display just sits on the top ruler (reading A B C D ...). I noticed that the contents of the cell is two lines above this 'ruler' line, and tried to define an user window, using INS-F4/F5. Then setting WE to show the user window (CTRL-B). But it doesn't work. The Braille display goes heywire, sometimes showing the cell contents, soetimes showing a blank line, and sometimes showing whatever else it finds on the screen, and thinks I would enjoy putting my fingers on. :) And, the speech? Hm! It only reports 'blank'. Not really funny... :) I did realize, that if I set WE to trak the mouse, instead of tracking focus, it gets somehow better. But then, when I want to select something from the menus - i.e from the file- or view- menu - neither speech, nor Braille will help me out, till I return to 'track focus'. Has anyone been using quatttro pro? Do you have some tips, or does anyone have a setfile / script that will do the trick? In the same token: Has anyone of you been working with WP Mail; found in the same suite from Corel. Some techs: The software is named Corel WordPerfect Office X3, and it seems like it was released in 2006. I am running WinXP Pro, all updates, and WE 7.0Beta2. Thanks for any feedback! If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the page. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include leave gw-info in the body of the message. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the page. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include leave gw-info in the body of the message. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the page. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include leave gw-info in the body of the message.
