Not without something extra the ending having to purchase. And a touch screen is "not! Accessible!
From: Bill Scherer [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:27 AM To: Peter Duran Cc: Window-Eyes discussion list Subject: Re: Windows Accessibility Hi Peter, Well I'm not convinced of Microsoft's or Apple's total commitment to accessability, but I won't argue about it here either. There can always be improvement. Anytime someone tells me they can do most tasks well -that is produced by a company touting accessibility I'm skeptical. If they are touting that they have that commitment then why should one be able to do only most tasks? Why not all tasks? Or why can software or hardware work on their machines that is not totally blind friendly? To be honest, I am not really a whiner about most of this, but as I get older I do get a little tired of companies touting what they do when it's obvious what they haven't done yet. Being a screen reader company has to be a nightmare. Bill ---- Original Message ----- From: Peter Duran<mailto:[email protected]> To: gw micro ([email protected])<mailto:[email protected])> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:43 AM Subject: Windows Accessibility Hello Bill and all, Bill's comments about Microsoft's commitment to accessibility by the disabled user is way off the mark! Both companies, Microsoft and Apple, take accessibility to their operating systems very seriously and spend huge amounts of money and effort to ensure accessibility as the world of computability evolves. If you don't believe that, check out the W3C web site where standards and specifications are promulgated. User Interface Automation, support for dynamic web pages, to name only 2 innovations, are technologies to facilitate usability by blind users. Raul's comments about the human condition and griping about the new are on target. My sighted wife complains about big changes more and more the older she gets whereas the grand kids think nothing of it but just embrace it. Users whined about the Ribbon UI when Microsoft introduced it into Office 2007, but it actually simplified interaction with programs which have many options to pick from. Apple Corporation did not become the second most profitable company in the world by offering bad, unusable products. Git with it and get use to it: change is coming whether you want it or like it! The older I get, the longer it takes me to adapt to the new. For instance, Word 2010 supports the Universal Character Set from Unicode Corporation and Window-Eyes lets me insert and read its mathematical characters. So, for the first time since I received advanced degrees in mathematics, I can write my own math books. (it took me many months to become use to the new way of working with math characters. Is everything perfect? No, I can't use the "math zone" feature in Word; that nifty advanced function was not made accessible in Word 2010.) I use the iPhone nowadays but found the touch screen very annoying; however Apple's amazing speech recognition program Siri, lets me do most tasks efficiently. The latest version (I downloaded yesterday) on my iPhone fixes lots of annoyances, and I suspect iPhone access will steadily improve. Apple (like Microsoft) has entire development teams devoted to universal accessibility! So, girls and boys, whine less and learn more. Peter Duran No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5337 - Release Date: 10/17/12 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.
