Of all the messages I've seen on this subject Paulette's belowe is one of the most valuable.
We shouldn't forget that Braille for some vi and blind people is such a comfort zone. I could never note take when studying at the same speed I could get up to with the old Braille 'n' Speak. (Don't know how good a speed merchant the Voice Sense is.) We shouldn't get too doctrinaire about this and realise that for some extreme portability plus Braille input makes a lot of sense, albeit at a price. For some a kinder environment somewhat removed from Windows is also welcome. I am well known here for being critical of the price many pay, I think unnecessarily, for JFW in the UK considering many of the people I'm thinking of who have it aren't working intensively in, say, multi-track editing or speaking to their computers all day long. If you must do those things then you might justify the outlay and think of it as an investment. Let's not forget too that a good many in education and employment get the up front costs of the more exspensive gear met out of Government funding so often there's not a direct link between a paying blind customer and the vendor. That's important when it comes to how responsive suppliers are to needs expressed by individual users. Interesting Appple has occured more than once in this conversation. Good machines, well made, good operating system with in-built access (but at a price). Remember to upgrade your Voice Over you have to upgrade the OS, which is an outlay of more than a hundred pounds in UK money almost every year. I don't know how good Voice Over will get but many are seeing it as an escape route from expensive Windows access programs. (Don't be too reassured by the much vaunted superiority of the Mac though as I keep hearing stories of battery failures, laptops waring out quite quickly, and oh yes, bugs too. No, Apple can't be dismissed just because there are bugs, just that you get the impression some times that such things never happen in this superior environment. As for IPhones and the like, wel, with these and IPods one could be forgiven for wondering if Apple's in the computer business any more, but when, if ever will IPhones become accessible? This is one place vi people won't be going any time soon, I'd have thought for their all in one portable needs. This from someone who may well by a Mac eventually but won't be forsaking Window-Eyes. Cheers, Ray. Ray Paulette Vickery wrote: Hi all, Those off the shelf main stream devices are great, but my Voice Sense, or as I like to call it, my Braille Berry, has one thing they don't have. It has the ability to let me write in grade 2 braille as a braille document or in grade 2 braille as a text document. Yes, I can write in grade 1 print, if you will, writing out every letter of every word on a quirty keyboard, but like many of us, I learned how to write braille first. It is my first written language. When it comes down to really learning or writing fast and feeling comfortable, give me a device that understands braille every time. I also prefer the Voice Sense over other note taker devices because of its size. I can put it almost anywhere. So that is my Two cents about the Voice Sense. Smile. Paulette Paulette 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.
