Way I see it, if GW - or anyone else - would make onscreen OCR
available, it would sure make a leap forward. But not just forward,
rather even into the modern-day world.
True, there is a load of features that might be of high importance,
for a screen reader to deal with. And likely we could have made a
list, that would range the priority of a number of them, higher than
Onscreen OCR.
I am not going to argue about that. But still, more and more cases
will arise, where the onscreen OCR will come in handy. And, as such, I
do hold it to be worth to consider having the screen reader handle
those cases as well. Maybe we are not even aware of all the cases
where it would prove helpful. Today, we are unable to handle this and
that task properly; and hence deem it inaccessible. Why? Because we
don't see the screen. Our screen reader goes quiet. And we, judge that
ther there is nothing on the screen but graphics. In reality, maybe
the document or any other text, might have been fully accessible, if
there was such a thing as Onscreen OCR. With the risk of having a ton
of people arguing me, I do dare to claim, if the thing is not good for
any reason - then why is it that other screen reader manufacturers
have ever bothered to put resources into the matter.
And, as for the legality of performing such OCR, I am not sure about
every country's local laws. Yet, I would think there could be strong
reasons, why any blind person would have his full rights to OCR any
written document. OK, a printed document could have a copyright
statement, that it is not to be reproduced in electronic format. As
such, you could claim, it was illegal for me to OCR that printed paper.
Yet most countries would accept me doing so, realizing that it is the
only way for me to get my hands on the information. When comes to
onscreen OCR though, any such statement will already have fallen to
the ground - due to the fact, they are already electronic - the
documents.
The term ONSCREEN OCR, indicates that the document has to be on your
screen first-hand, and you then run an OCR on it. In other words, if
an author makes his document available in a format that shows up on
your screen, that document is already in an electronic format. Hence
you are not reproducing anything at all, and therefore should not be
violating any law. Look upon your OCR as your reading glasses. Are you
going to tell your grandmother, that she is not allowed to put on her
reading glasses? Would she violate any law by using glasses when
reading her newspaper, correspondance, restaurant menus, or
ingredience list on the groceries? Well, you are doing exactly the
same thing, only in a far more hazzled way - with your computer.
----- Original Message ----- From: "shannon"
<[email protected]>
To: "Don H" <[email protected]>; "gwmicro" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: WE and OCR
I would agree with you.
I have been looking for a OCR program too and I have had little
success.
I downloaded the fine reader demo and I could not make much of it and
now my trial is out of time. It is buy it or unload it, and it put
files all over my system.
I know open book is designed for the blind user but it is so
expensive. I wish there was a way to make one of the less expensive
ones work well.
Shannon
----- Original Message ----- From: "Don H" <[email protected]>
To: "gwmicro" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 10:00 AM
Subject: WE and OCR
I have always thought it would be a great idea to pick one of the
available OCR programs like finereader or what ever create a App to
make it more user friendly with WE and maybe just maybe take some
sales away from FS and Open Book which is so expensive.
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