Darren and list, This is really not a crusader's list! This is suppose to be a support list! The company involved supports many of the products you object to. As I stated a post or two back I have a Voice Sense myself but I also have a Netbook. If I should need to unload anything I have, I'm certain I could do so! I'm certain there are other venues where you can argue and crusade and I do agree with some of your points but I too use both types of products for very different reasons and I don't feel stupid or cheated for doing so. Others unsubscribe from this list because of the junk which comes on it unnecessarily! I therefore as a member of this list ask you to find a different venue for your crusades please! Let this be a support list as it is suppose to be!
Thanks much! Jim Aldrich ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darren Harris" <[email protected]> To: "'Ray'" <[email protected]>; "'GW-INFO List'" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 10:51 AM Subject: RE: notetakers and mainstream products Interesting points. But whilst people still accept these note taking devices, with outdated tech, over lets say a netbook, well, sorry I just think it's sad. How much money really is being spent when it doesn't need to be. Technology is available these days that can make peoples lives much more flexible. So, develop a braille keyboard that will work with a mainstream device. What's wrong with that, in itself nothing. Because that's adapting to the world. Not trying to make the world adapt to you. The whole ethos and idea of access technology has been wronf for years to my mind. The idea is to adapt the blind person and equip them to work in the world, not to create a working shell which if went wrong at any given time, what's going to happen, can a member of the workplace's IT team come and fix it for you? No. why not. 1 most of these devices haven't got a screen. Yes you can plug a screen into it. 2, it's been programmed in a very specialised way. Ok windoweyes, jaws, hal, supernova, what ever you care to mention could still go wrong but it's far less likely. And if the worse case sinario did ever happen with any given screen reader, there's always add remove programmes or system restore in order to hopefully correct the problem. My point is, that mainstream is on the whole more flexable. Specialest is not. -----Original Message----- From: Ray [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 02 February 2009 17:42 To: GW-INFO List Subject: Re: notetakers and mainstream products I'm replying to this post as I feel it is one of the most useful on this thread, and the convenience of having Grade 2 input and a Braille display all in a neat unit is, for some, a great convenience. Yes, sure, the cost is high, and downright prohibitive for some; but surely we can not quarel with those who actually do spend their money this way, rather than patching together a portable kit with one of the new cheap laptops at its heart. I did use a BrailleLite curtacy of Access to work some years ago and it was one of the nicest notetakers I ever had the pleasure of using. I regard such notetakers as beyond my means these days, but as I say, I won't pick an arguement with anyone who does fork out for them. Much of the Access Tech industry depends on Government funding in one way or another, and redistributers here in the UK would be out of business if that weren't so. So it is good that alternatives like the NC 10 are coming along now, and much more compact Braille displays too. Remember too that Window-Eyes - oh yes, W-E - I thought folks had forgotten about the program that is, after all, the main subject of this list - can be put on portable devices without restriction, but no need to mention other products, I feel. So, and if anyone's still reading this, please, let's have some give and take and respect the choices people make, and have less personal abuse while we're at it. Ray. E. wrote: Your points are all well taken. I suggest that off the shelf products and specially developed notetakers may be different products. Thus the discussion is valuable, if comparing is possible understanding their differences. One of these differences is the availability of Grade Two braille input. The Braille Sense and Humanware notetakers do allow somebody to input using Grade Two braille. This input option may be faster for somebody with good braille writing skills who needs to take down verbatum transcripts or who wants to input notes rapidly. In this case, the notetaker user is paying for the braille translation software in the notetaker. Off the shelf and notetakers are sometimes actually different products, as in this case. They each have advantages and disadvantages depending on the needs of an individual. This is a useful discussion if framed in something other than either or terms. I would personally like a braille display which contained a braille translator if possible but did not have the weight of either the braille sense or other notetakers. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. 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