Hello All: I agree, for the most part, with GW Micro's response to the screen reader questions. There are a couple of areas I'd like to address.
As a technical support professional, one of the areas that GW Micro still needs to work on is remote support. Freedom Scientific has done a huge service to those of us providing technical support with the introduction of JAWS Tandem. Nine times out of 10, when I talk with someone using JAWS version 10 or higher that is having a problem, they will ask me to take over their computer with JAWS Tandem and fix the problem. Tandem is built into JAWS and there is no additional charge. While Serotek has also built a very good solution in Remote Incident Management (RIM), it costs $1,200 a year, very hard to justify for not-for-profit agencies like the one I work for. But, remote tools aren't just used by technical support professionals. Tools such as Go to My PC are used by business people to access data on their office PCs all the time. I would like to see GW Micro continue working to make existing remote tools such as Remote Assistance, Go to My PC and Log Me In Pro fully accessible, regardless which end of the connection you are on. Window-eyes, from our perspective, provides the best support for so-called green screen applications. These are main frame applications which people sometimes have to use on the job. Our agency contracts with the state of Illinois for one program where such an application is used. Using Window-Eyes and a 80-cell Braille Display, a person who is totally blind can access this application, albeit the support could always be better. JAWS won't even work with this application, and we haven't tested System Access or NVDA with it. If we were able to do some scripting, I believe we could make the support with Window-Eyes even better. Finally, I'd like to address the issue of built-in screen readers. I believe that as the Mac becomes the computer of choice for people who are blind, Microsoft is going to need to incorporate a screen reader into Windows. I use PCs exclusively at work and at home, and I've been a loyal Window-Eyes user for about 14 years. However, I am increasingly becoming impressed with what the Mac and other Apple products using VoiceOver can do right out of the box. While GW Micro deserves kudos for offering the Lease to Own plan, a plan not duplicated by other screen reader vendors, it's not the same as having accessibility right out of the box. Thanks for reading. Ray Campbell, Adaptive Technology Help Desk Technician The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired 1850 W. Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608 312.997.3651 (Voice/Relay) or 888.825.0080 (Voice/Relay) [email protected] www.chicagolighthouse.org 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. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
