Apparently, we are at least two!
Sorry, GW. Yes, I do see your point, that it was of great interest to
ensure support for 64-bit, Win7, and office 2010. And as such, OK you
put browse mode on the side board for a while. But won't that be exactly
what is going to happen over and over again? Tomorrow, a new Windows,
Office or technology is going to come out. And, you - are going to 'have
to' put browse mode OFF for yet a bit of time. OK, you could always keep
wetting people's apetite by telling them, it will come in the next
version. Then, just make sure WE8 won't be out, till you have had your
time on fixing the stuff. Well, I am sorry. That way, browse mode would
never be fixed. And, it would have been more fair to tell us, that it
will be fixed the day my grand-children graduates. Smile!
I think it was Doug, who stated in the podcast, that people REALLY NEED
the UIA (or whatever it was called). Be it so! Yet, out of the thousands
of users of WE worldwide, I guess we could at the best say there is
fifty percent that has a job, another thirty percent that are students,
and the rest private users (only using their WE for home usage). OK, the
figures might be discussed - but at the best these are the numbers. Out
of all the working and studying people, a handful might still be in
institutions where they can cling on to their old stuff. Fact is, I
guess it is more like several handfuls, since not all companies run out
and spend thousands of dollars, on upgrading to every new version of
Office, for instance. And, an even bigger handful, will be in working
situations, where they don't need the newest versions of all of this, so
as to perform their everyday job. And, how many of the home users do you
expect, run down at the corner store, to pick up every single new-comer
the market wants to throw on us? How many private ecconomies has the
shoulders to carry such expenses? At the very end of the figure, we are
left with a handful - or two - that REALLY NEED their UIA support. Fine,
go ahead and give them this support in WE. But, don't forget, that more
like ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT of your customers, are using the browse mode,
every day - SEVERAL times a day - and for more than one software or kind
of operation.
Take a look at the mailing list, for instance. How many users have
actually been on there, the last six months, asking for support for the
MSAA replacement? Now, turn over the page, and count the number of
users, telling they are experiencing trouble in accessing web pages.
Which of these numbers do you find the highest? My calculator has but
ONE answer, and I guess it is no special-edition calculator. Smile! If
it was only a few web pages, we could have told people to stay away from
them. But it is not. It is more or less all cross the board; people
can't access certain critical features of the page. Browse mode does not
load properly, leaving the user without speech, till he closes the web
browser. And, a few more 'good reasons' for calling for the new browse
mode to come out. THIS, is the everyday most of us are facing. Listening
to your customers, might call for a fix. THAT, is what we have heard for
months, and years, will be fixed in the next major version. True, it is
not around yet - that major version - but it sure would be nice to have
it here. Chances are, that the users will find other screen readers
handling web pages more sufficiently, hence choose to switch to another
screen reader. Not right away. Not because they don't like WE, or prefer
the other alternatives. Simply because, they HAVE TO - so as to be able
to handle their everyday tasks. And, if browse mode always will have to
leave the board, so as to make room for the other 'important' stuff,
when do you expect browse mode to have its update?
As a footer to all of this, keep in mind, that MANY a user is NOT
located in the USA. Typically, the local version of WE in my area, is
released just about six months after the US version has had its final
release. That means, the users who has to wait for the new versions of
WE in their local flavor, will have to fall even more behind, before
they get their hands on a version that deals with the modern world. I.e,
Microsoft did release Vista in our area, pretty much at the same time as
the US version. Yet, the local WE users did have no access to Vista, for
another half-year. When you finally decide to release WE8, with the new
browse mode implemented, the non-US users might have to sit back for
months, before they finally can start to enjoy the upgraded browse mode.
Do you think internet will 'sit back' and wait for them to go modern?
Allright, you have no control over the internet. And GW staff, you don't
have the full control over how quickly things are translated. I do see
these points. Yet, since this is the experienced facts, keeping putting
'browse mode' off for eternity, will just make the non-US users even
more left behind, since they will have to expect browse mode trouble for
even longer.
With the risk of sounding merely negative and critical, I am putting out
those thoughts. I really try not to be negative. Yet, I do hold, there
is many a user - that feel the same disappointment that do I, knowing we
once again have been thrown off the chariot, being told that browse mode
is not facing any immediate upgrade.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Don H" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 2:07 PM
Subject: WE 7.5
If I understood the Blind Bargains interview discussing WE 7.5 browse
mode still won't be fixed with this release.
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