Well this is the Narator demo:
http://eurpod.com/win8_accessibility.mp3
The stuff to do with Windows 8's new interface is on the Windows Weekly podcast
which you can find on www.twit.com, though I use an app for podcasts that grabs
the feed automatically so I don't have a direct link for that on, but if you
want to here that discussion you can on twit.com.
Cory
Sent from my iPhone
On 2011-06-18, at 4:27 AM, "Sunshine" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Cory, I would like to know what podcast you found this on?
> and where i can obtain this podcast.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cory Martin" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 5:16 AM
> Subject: Concerns about the future of Windows
>
>
> Hello,
> This is one of my sleepless nights where I fall asleep listening to tech
> news podcasts and such (yes I am a real nerd), and I just wanted to comment
> on the following:
> Note in advance this is not a rant, I and anyone else have to admire the
> work that GW Micro does in trying to insure compatibility of products over a
> very wide market. I may express frustration at times with things like
> anybody else as an end-user, however the work that a screen reader developer
> has to do is staggering.
> I am however very concerned with the prospects of Windows 8. There are a
> few reasons for this which I will explain as follows.
> I've listened to a podcast that someone did on an unreleased build of
> Windows 8. Don't ask me how they got ahold of this, I do not know. I
> suspect they were certainly not authorized by Microsoft to have it. None
> the less they had it and this is what we now know. I learned of this
> through the Serotalk podcast and those who are interested can refer to that
> for more information or to listen for themselves. No, this podcast is not
> by Serotek, they just refer to it. Microsoft is puting some real genuine
> effort in to improving Narator in Windows 8. I'm guessing that Apple really
> played them hard in terms of accessibility and now they look really sorry
> compared to what Apple has done. Apple of course has an easier time of it
> as all their hardware is uniform and released by them and thus controlled by
> them, so Voice Over works great because they know exactly how it wil behave
> in various situations and can predict it very precisely. However, Narator
> will no longer be that sluggish program which can barely do anything.
> Granted it is in no way able to compete with what Window Eyes can do, but
> what they're doing with it is impressive, based on this early beta. This in
> itself can only be a good thing for me. As a computer nerd and tech and
> someone who installs Windows and does far more than just uses a computer at
> a casual user level, having a more powerful screen reader built in can only
> be a good thing. I originally got System Access exactly for this purpose,
> because I could plug it in to a customer computer and not have to install
> anything, and other than some temp files when I remove my U3 drive at the
> end of my work session, their computer has not been modified or had anything
> extra installed on it. I do not use System Access for daily use, but it
> certainly is good for that short computing session where you don't want to
> change someone's computer with intercept drivers and such. So having
> Narator is a good thing.
> However, some of the other things that Microsoft is doing are quite frankly
> really scary for us as blind Windows users. According to the Windows Weekly
> podcast, Windows 8 which is scheduled to ship in mid 2012 will employ a
> whole new user interface. They apparently are adopting a look something
> like that which you get on a Windows Phone 7 device or tablet device, along
> with multi-touch features and tiles. This interface will apparently be
> available on all Windows platforms, from desktops and laptops up to tablets.
> Fortunately this interface can be switched off and Windows will behave much
> like Windows 7 does, however as we know if DOS and command line applications
> are any indication and as indicated in the podcast, the old style of user
> interface with a desktop, start menu and system tray, will be going away,
> probably with Windows 9 in 2015. On top of this, I was told that the new
> Windows 8 will not allow mirror drivers which most screen readers today rely
> on for functionality, so a whole new way of accessing screen information
> will be necessary. Apparently Microsoft considers mirror drivers to be a
> security risk. Hopefully this is not true. This new Windows is going to be
> pushing for more applications which are cloud-based and rely on HTML 5
> standards.
> Again this is not a complaint, I'm sure GW Micro already knows these things
> and likely already has some preliminary plans in place for dealing with
> them. But I just wanted to stress that definitely I believe that improving
> Window Eye's ability to handle HTML should definitely be a major priority
> for the next release. If this is done ,this I would assume would not only
> help Window Eyes deal with web browsing better, but also applications in
> general, especially if all the new Windows applications are going to be
> based on this new HTML 5 standard, along with APIs to interface to them.
> The good news is, that in the demo of this pre-release of early Windows 8,
> the podcaster had Jaws, NVDA and System access working with moderate
> success, with System Access being the winner due to its virtual mouse
> feature. He was supposed to demonstrate Window Eyes but didn't, I think he
> got side tracked by some of the issues he was having.
> Either way, things like this are still a good way off and not something
> people should worry about as an immidiate concern, but at the same time I'm
> sure and hope that GW Micro is aware of these issues and preparing for what
> they will have to do to keep Window Eyes working in such a drastically
> changed user interface. Although a good thing that could come out of this
> might be opportunity for Window Eyes to find itself on to new tablets and
> more portable computers. Window Eyes on a windows 8 tablet to compete with
> the Ipad would be very cool.
> Just some thoughts, I hope nobody is offended by this.
>
> Cory
>
>
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