Hi, Kristeen:
I must agree other than the fact that I didn't work for microsoft. the
only issue I see is that if apple ever decides to no longer support voice over,
we're sunk!
On Apr 1, 2014, at 12:21 PM, Kristeen Hughes <[email protected]> wrote:
> Jenine, I can basically echo what you say. I was a windows user from the
> windows 95 os. In fact, I worked for Microsoft for three years and so had to
> believe in something that provided me with my bread and butter, and of
> course, chocolate. (grin) However, I could crash any windows system with
> great ease. Some of it is the OS itself, which, although it is better in
> versions 7 and 8, still has more crashing issues than Mac. Some of it,
> probably most of it, is due to the fact the the screen reading software is
> separate from the os. this has always caused instability and i don't see that
> changing any time soon.
>
> When it comes to iOS, there's no contest in my oppinion. Talks and Mobile
> speaks and anything else is just so much more fickle than is the iOS. I, and
> lots of people i know, struggled constantly with crashes and lock-ups and
> having to turn the phone on and off a great number of times even in a day.
>
> I am very happy with both mac os and ios platforms andwould not want to give
> them up.
>
> . on apr 1, 2014, at 2:26 pm, jenine stanley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> this is an interesting question. from just an average user point of view, i
> have been using my macbook pro since early february and use a windows laptop
> for work. they literally sit side by side on my desk.
>
> i had used the iphone since 2011 so was sort of familiar with how voiceover
> works and love it on the ios platform that said, it's very different on the
> mac or os side.
>
> speaking first to stability, i managed to crash the mbp twice in the first
> week but literally have not made the speech stop since then. has my mbp
> slowed down or acted strangely a few times without explanation? yes, but it's
> come back to its original performance soon after these fits.
>
> my windows machine frequently hangs up both in the operating system in
> general and because of screen reader/video issues. outlook is really bad
> about this and i usually have to reboot at least once a day. yes, i maintain
> my windows machine well with weekly cleaning and such but ...
>
> the one thing that you will find difficult at first but which, if you
> continue to plug away at it will soon become second nature, is the whole
> concept of interacting with things. i hated it at first and still am not fond
> of it. unlike the ios realm, you have to take an extra step to access some
> things using voice over. once you get used to it though and combine quick nav
> with the regular vo operation, and ask this list a ton of stupid questions,
> :) you'll be fine.
>
> i really like the variety of quality voices available with vo too. it's fast
> and responsive. i'm sold. be sure though to give yourself some time and be
> patient. beprepared to read over and over any and all instructions, podcasts
> and other things about switching, commands and apps.
> jenine stanley
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> on apr 1, 2014, at 2:14 pm, scott rumery <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> hello scott,
>
> you will probably get a lot of varying opinions on this topic so you will
> have to decide which ones you will take seriously or not. having said this
> let me first tell you that ever since i switched to using a mac more than 3
> years ago i have become probably one of the biggest apple fan boys that there
> is, so my thoughts on this subject are going to have a strong apple bias to
> them.
>
> if you are wanting a computing environment that is very stable compared to
> what you are currently getting on the windows platform then in my opinion you
> would be very happy with a mac.
>
> the instability of my windows computer is exactly what helped me to make the
> decision to make the switch over 3 years ago.
>
> i used to have to restart my windows computer several times a day and now
> that i am on a mac i hardly ever need to reboot.
>
> you will notice that i said "hardly." i have had to restart my mac once in a
> while due to lost speech or something, but as i stated with the use the word
> hardly this does not happen with any regularity.
>
> now having said all of this let me give you a little word of caution about
> switching platforms. i teach blind people who make this switch how to use
> their macs for a company called fedora outlier, llc and one the biggest
> mistakes that people make is thinking that switching from a windows computer
> over to a mac computer is going to be easy.
>
> it isn't as easy as one might think. after all you are going to have to learn
> how to use a totally different operating system and a new and different
> screen reader.
>
> now having said this if you are determined to learn the new platform and you
> do it correctly by this i mean that you don't try and learn everything in one
> day you can definitely learn how to use a mac very quickly.
>
> one more thing. in response to your question as to whether or not a mac is
> more stable than a windows computer. remember earlier when i said that when i
> was still using a windows computer i would have to restart the computer
> several times a day, well with my current mac which is 2012 mac book pro with
> 4 gigabytes of ram i haven't had to restart it in about 2 weeks. my mac is on
> 24 hours a day. during the day when i am working i am actually using it, and
> at night the mac will just sleep, but it hasn't been turned off in at least 2
> weeks now and voiceover is running flawlessly .
>
> i hope that all of this helps you with your decision and if you need anything
> else please just ask.
>
> have a great day,
>
> scott rumery
> on apr 1, 2014, at 11:44 am, scott duck <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> hi everyone,
>
> as i said previously, i am thinking about getting a mac and the main reason
> is that i am tired of the increasing instability of the pc environment. my
> first question is, is this really different on a mac?
>
> i am using jaws 15 with windows 8. both are not all that stable. i have
> been a jaws user for 17 years and i have noticed a definite progressive
> increase in instability with the last few releases. jaws crashes frequently
> and, even if it doesn't crash, it often stops talking when errors occur with
> other applications. then, there's windows 8. i don't mind the windows 8
> interface but several times per week, i will have a problem that requires me
> to restart my computer. i did not have that nearly as much with windows 7.
> also, it isn't unusual for me to install a program which will, either
> directly or through add ins, make windows and/or jaws more unstable. i then
> have to decide rather the additional functionality is worth the increased
> instability. i'm just tired of all the crashes and reboots and having to use
> three or four screen readers because i have to run one when another one
> crashes.
>
> by contrast, my iphone and ipad, while not perfect, are certainly more
> stable. voiceover seldom just stops working. of course, every single app is
> not accessible and they do not all work correctly but any problems with an
> app are almost always confined only to that app. when an app crashes, it
> usually does not also cause voiceover or the device to crash. is this also
> true of the mac?
>
> i have certainly used technology enough to know that none of it is perfect.
> however, i would like something that is better than the pc, when it comes to
> stability. over all, in your experience, is the mac more stable?
>
> thanks,
> scott duck
>
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