HI Niam I have only one word of advice, if you need to carry on using Microsoft Office, you'll need to run Windows. Otherwise, you can go all mac all the time.
There are other office suites that work with the Mac, but I'm talking about professional MS Office use that is business critical. Oh I wouldn't worry about people telling you VO is a very different type of screen reader, it isn't really. I've used probably a dozen or more in my life and believe me, it's just the same as all the rest - other than the fact it is better designed, works more effectivly and is free that is! Good luck. Jonathan On 31/10/2011, Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith <ly...@mac-access.net> wrote: > Hello Niamh > > First of all, my sincere condolences regarding losing your vision. As > somebody who has sight but is married to a blind man I can see both > perspectives. I take a deliberate interest in all things accessibility; and > I wanted to offer you some encouragement. > > Please, firstly, discard the "horror stories". You will find that, if done > correctly, the transition to the Mac can be a painless, even pleasurable and > thrilling experience. I would also point out that, in order to use Fusion as > some have suggested, you will first need to use VoiceOver. Otherwise you > can't possibly navigate around Fusion to configure and start up your > machine. > > The other alternative is Boot Camp; Apple's free boot manager. But that > doesn't allow you to use both operating systems at the same time; and it's > wasteful in my humble opinion. > > My strong advice is to please make use of this resource; we are here and > happy, no; more than happy to help you. We are thrilled each time we help a > new user bridge the divide and convert to Mac. And you know, once you get > over the initial problem of dumping preconceptions, it really doesn't have > to be that difficult. > > My best advice is to not let the negatives out there; and there are many of > them who have those negatives often for reasons of self-interest, put you > off the Mac. Believe me; it is a pleasure to use an operating system which > isn't prone to the horror show that is the Registry and its associated > problems. > > First off though; if you want to read about Fusion, you can find it here: > <http://www.vmware.com/fusion/> > > There is another alternative which is called "Parallels Desktop": > <http://www.parallels.com> but the main problem here is that the > configuration is not accessible in the slightest. > > However, my own tests are showing that still, Parallels Desktop version 7 is > noticeably faster and more hardware efficient than is VMWare Fusion 4. Once > configured it could also be simpler for you to deal with; as nobody has > pointed this out to you, I will do so. > > An easy way to launch either Parallels or Fusion is to simply create an > alias pointing to your virtual machine. If you don't know how to create an > alias, don't worry about that for the moment. But once you have your alias, > you can have it set to load at log-in if you desire so that, in effect, you > don't even need VoiceOver turned on to launch it. But that's for a later > discussion. > > Let me conclude by just encouraging you again to give the Mac a go, and to > use this list for all its worth. I'm one of the co-owners of the list and I > hereby give you permission to ask as many Mac-related questions as you wish. > If anybody ticks you off for asking silly questions, I will fly over there > and personally make sure that they are very sorry. (Just joking). But you > get the point. > > The configuration of Windows itself once installed is off topic for this > group; but I along with many others on list would be more than happy I am > sure to help you with that. Feel free to join our sister group Techno-Chat > if you so wish, where Windows is up for discussion as much as you like. > > Once again; please don't be shy of asking questions. > > Lynne > > On 30 Oct 2011, at 22:58, Niamh wrote: > > Hi James, > Nothing cold waterish about your points. > I think I am hoping to cross over eventually. > My problem is I only lost my vision 4 years ago, and struggled to conquer > Jaws and PC. > I think it is a worry blanket, you know the fear of starting again. > It is odd to say this, but shopping for apple products just made me feel > better about myself, I am not sure whether to call it "normal" or just > "especial." > Also at work everything is going Apple. > Just a bit confused. > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus > and worm-free! > > Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting > the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
