I first started with a word progessor program written by William Brunot for
his blind wif in 1985. Soon I learned about VideoVoice wirtten by a blind
Programmer, Deborah Norling. Before long I discovered Chuck Hallenbeck's
Provox which I was using until 2013 when my Toshiba laptop died. However,
along the way in 1998 the computer lab instructor at the Eat Bay Center for
the Blind, Connie Skeen, insisted that I learn to use Window Eyes and
Win95-98. Because of my reluctance to leave the MS DOS environment she
nickmaned me Grandpa DOS. My daughter Pam and I took a Turbo Pascal
programming class together 1989 and a Dos batch file programming class in
1994. I have greatly appreciated what Doug and his crew have done over the
years and will continue using Window Eyes, however, I haven't forgotten that
"Free DOS" is out there and maybe, just maybe I will go gack. Smile! And
that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Grant, A.K.A. Grandpa DOS
-----Original Message-----
From: Marvin Commerford via Talk
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 6:22 PM
To: David Goldfield ; Window-Eyes Discussion List
Subject: Re: Screen Reader History
And now Doug and Dan are with their third company together. I remember
that I really wanted a Sounding Board from Computer Aids Corporation
which Dan designed. For a short time I was sad when I learned that CA
had closed down. Doug and Dan got GW Micro rolling and the first thing
I did when I got my first IT job was to order that Sounding Board,
Vocal-Eyes 1.0, their Braille Talk braille translation program, and the
Noteworthy and calcworthy programs they had. GW's products really
helped make it possible for me to earn a good living.
On 8/2/2015 7:30 PM, David Goldfield via Talk wrote:
Jeff,
Thank you for sharing that amazing piece of history. There are so many
products which we use on a daily basis and we know little about the
product's origins and its inventors. I believe that someone started an
assistive technology history wiki and your story should definitely be
submitted. Is Malcom still with us?
David Goldfield,
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
www.davidgoldfield.info
On 8/2/2015 8:21 PM, Jeff Samco via Talk wrote:
In 1985 I bought a used IBM PC with the same 256 KB of memory and 2
double-sided floppy disk drives for only $3,000. I worked for the
National Park Service in Yosemite and a coworker of mine, Malcom
Holser, wrote a screen reader program for me to use with an Echo PC
serial synthesizer. Malcom came up with the name Vocal-Eyes and later
sold the program to Computer
Aids Corporation. However, they were strict on including the word
"talk" in most all their software so it became Screen Talk. Later, I
was pleased when GW Micro picked up and used the name Vocal-Eyes.
Jeff
At 03:51 PM 8/2/2015, you wrote:
I got my first IBM clone (256K of RAM) at this time in 1985, and was
running Screen-Talk before Computer Aids Corporation added the Prokey
macros. A SET file was about 128 bytes long, and I edited some of
them with Edlin for better compatibility with my Votrax Personal
Speech System. Many times I'm amazed that this Windows stuff works at
all.
Windows 3.1 came out in 1990, and the first screen reader for Windows
was OutSpoken, which was first demonstrated in July of 1992.
Window-Eyes for Windows 3.1 came out in 1995, and it could first run
Windows 95 in 1997.
Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU, Kensington, MD
http://lras.home.sprynet.com
-----Original Message----- From: Butch Bussen via Talk
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 2:49 PM
To: Pamela Dominguez ; Window-Eyes Discussion List
Subject: Re: A new feature in Internet Explorer
Such memories, got my first Apple 2 e in 1983. Anyone remember file
talk? Got an ibm clone in 85 and ran screen talk with prokey.
73
Butch
WA0VJR
Node 3148
Wallace, ks.
On Sun, 2
Aug 2015, Pamela Dominguez via Talk wrote:
I started out with artic vision, and for a short time, I had a
computer that I was supposed to get if I got a job that had vocal
eyes on it. But I was so used to the Artic that I didn't like the
vocal eyes. Yes, diskettes, the five inch soft ones and the
3.5-inch ones. Somewhere, I still have them! Pam.
-----Original Message----- From: Thomas N. Chan via Talk
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 4:12 AM
To: 'Window-Eyes Discussion List'
Subject: RE: A new feature in Internet Explorer
I also started during the 90s when vocal-eyes was the king of dos,
wordperfect.... let's see, are we talking about diskettes here? lol....
This is really back from the past
--------------------
regards
Thomas N. Chan
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk
[mailto:talk-bounces+thomas.nchan=gmail....@lists.window-eyes.com]
On Behalf
Of Tom Kingston via Talk
Sent: Sunday, 2 August 2015 8:12 AM
To: gary melconian; Window-Eyes Discussion List
Subject: Re: A new feature in Internet Explorer
You might want to check your timeline. 25 years ago I was using GW
Micro's VocalEyes on DOS and there was no such thing as Windows.
Sheesh! Now I suddenly feel old. Thanks a bunch. (grin)
Tom
On 8/1/2015 7:40 PM, gary melconian via Talk wrote:
Sure we will. I appreciate the products that I have used from GW
over the
past 25 years of using windows eyes from 4.0 all the way up to 9.2.
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk
[mailto:talk-bounces+gmelconian619=gmail....@lists.window-eyes.com]
On
Behalf Of Stephen Clark via Talk
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2015 12:58 PM
To: Window-Eyes Discussion List <talk@lists.window-eyes.com>
Subject: A new feature in Internet Explorer
Here is a feature that they've added to Internet explorer which is
turned
on
by default called "Do not track".
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/ie-do-not-track
It's not perfect, but they are actually trying to improve the
security of
Windows not make it worse.
Now, can we please get back to talking about Window-eyes?
==Steve
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