While I'm sure others can give you more specifics, I should point out
that if you go to the Mac platform you can avail yourself of some safety
nets to enable running Windows apps on the same machine. You don't have
to go 'cold turkey' and if you check the archives for discussions of
VMWare Fusion and BootCamp you'll find out more. Generally VMWare is an
application which has a virtual Intel PC in a window so you can install
Windows, Jaws, Word etc and use it right along side the Mac apps, or set
it full screen to make your mac basically into a temporary Windows box.
The virtualization has some overhead (performance) impact but this
generally works well. BootCamp is more hardcore where you actually
partition your hard drive and make your mac boot into Windows. Turns out
MacBooks are actually some of the faster Windows machines out there when
set up this way. Of course it's a double-edged sword since having the
fallback of your old Windows apps on your mac means you might not put
forth the effort to learn and get comfortable with the new system, but
it's nice to know you don't have to make a mutually exclusive choice.
CB
On 5/2/12 11:10 AM, Will_C wrote:
Hi all! New to the group, but have been lurking and reading for a
while and wanted some input on some of my specific questions.
A little about me: I still have a fair bit of usable vision left,
though my eyes get tired quickly and thus I use a combination of
Zoomtext (with the doc reader) as well as Jaws for longer texts as I
find constantly scrolling back and forth with the magnification very
tiring and disorienting as I have to bump up magnification more and
more. I also used OCR and readers (K1000 traditionally) for school
reading. I’m going to law school in the fall, and so will obviously
be doing a TON of reading and writing, for which I rely entirely upon
my computers.
In the past, I’ve run into issues during research when neither ZT or
JFW could easily interface with the various databases, and I’ll be
working with these even more come September. I’ve hummed and hahhed
about making a switch to Mac after hearing almost nothing negative
about them, and I’ve read and reread discussions on this and other
sites about comparisons between ZT vs Zoom and JFW/NVDA/etc vs
VoiceOver. I’m aware that all these products have their pro’s and
con’s, and while I would love further input or feedback on these
tools, my specific concerns are outlined below.
1. Can anyone provide specific insight on how well Zoom interacts
with advanced word processors and office suites, specifically iWork or
Office for Mac? I’ve heard mixed reviews regarding tracking, font
smoothing, but will have to write long papers and put together
presentations that need to be compatible with other students’ systems
for group assignments.
2. Could anyone offer insights on how VO and/or Zoom might be able to
handle online databases with a variety of html, scanned and .pdf based
documents, hidden frames, and other database programming that I’m just
not familiar with? JFW and ZT often can’t find any text to lock onto
in my previous experience with these databases.
3. What are the best OCR options for the Mac?
Other general comments or recommendations about making or not making a
switch to the Mac for someone who will be doing extensive document-
based research and writing would also be more than welcome.
Thanks in advance for any and all feedback!
Cheers,
Will
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