First, I'm sure most if not all people on this list would agree that VoiceOver is, in many respects, better than Windows screen readers. That is probably why we are using Macs with VoiceOver after all. However, the lack of frequent updates, if indeed updates to VoiceOver are less frequent than Windows screen readers, is not one of the reasons why VoiceOver is superior to Windows screen readers. VoiceOver is superior despite more frequent updates, not because of them. IN fact, one reason I like VoiceOver so much is that it generally gets free corresponding updates whenever the OS is updated. NOt like with JAWS where I need to go and buy a new version, if it exists, once the OS is updated. More importantly, however, updating VoiceOver more often will not make it somehow become Windows, and nobody is suggesting it should.
Second, the fact that VoiceOver is built into the OS doesn't mean it can't receive specific updates even though nothing else in the OS is being updated. Safari is built in—you can't install the OS without it, you can't install it after the fact—but it receives specific updates. So to with other firmware updates, camera raw compatibility upgrades, etcetera. Moreover, the OS often receives incremental patches to fix specific bugs, such as security vulnerabilities, wifi performance or battery issues. There's no reason the OS couldn't receive specific updates to fix VoiceOver bugs. Third, the real issue VoiceOver doesn't receive more frequent upgrades, I suspect, is resources. Apple needs to decide how much money it is willing to designate to each area of the OS development. It only has a certain number of staff who work a set number of hours, so someone needs to decide how many staff will work on each app, feature, etcetera. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Apple designates fewer staff to developing VoiceOver than it does to other areas of the OS. Clearly there is more money to be made through integrating LinkedIn, or supporting multiple displays, etcetera, than improving VoiceOver. Even though Apple sets a high standard for integrating accessibility, at the end of the day it is still a public corporation and profit making is still its primary purpose and duty. Fourth, we're back to the issue that improvements to VoiceOver itself can only go so far. What is needed more is improved accessibility in the various apps we all access. I'm not sure how this works at Apple—whether the accessibility team is tasked with reviewing all apps to ensure they are accessible, or whether all developers have accessibility guidelines to follow. I'd hope the latter is true, and all developers know about accessibility and consider all code they write from an accessibility viewpoint. This would free up the accessibility team to focus on innovative accessibility features, rather than just fixing the problems created elsewhere in the OS. However, I suspect this is not the case, and much of the accessibility team's work consists of patching up or finding ways around accessibility problems created by innovative new developments made without accessibility in mind. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
