Hi. Not only that, but did you guys hear about the other thing ms
screwed up on? On it's website, Microsoft has a special page devoted to
people with disabilities, and it allows them to click on a link that
people could go to with assistive tech, and get the latest copy of
Windows 10. Well, some well-known sighted blogs have picked up on this
and are telling people to go to that site and grab a copy of Windows 10,
essentially circumventing microsoft's decision of ending the date of
getting a free upgrade by July 29th. If Microsoft were going to do
this, what they *should* have done is had a form, which a person wishing
to get a copy of windows 10 had to sign, print out and somehow
authenticate themselves to make sure that people were doing this in the
right way. I suspect that Microsoft probably doesn't really care,
because it's their goal to get Windows 10 on as many machines as is
humanly possible. I absolutely love Windows 10, it's a supurb
operating system but Microsoft really did kind of drop the ball on both
edge accessibility, and this thing of giving people with assistive tech
a bit of a longer time to get it for free.
On 7/31/2016 1:55 AM, Reeva Webb via Talk wrote:
Expecting blindness orgs to do something worth a damn. Hahahahahaha
On Sunday, July 31, 2016, Vaughan Dodd via Talk <[email protected]>
wrote:
Russ: thank you for advertising this.
I have listened to the podcast, and whilst not wishing to criticise Main
menu, I do have to say that it seems that the good folks of ACB Radio have
sold the Microsoft line.
Of particular concern is that Microsoft's blocking of screen reader access
with the Edge browser due to security based decisions is unforgiveable. I
feel for the blatant apologies given at last year's ACB Convention;
Microsoft's progress in more than 12 months does not seem to reflect a true
commitment. Screen readers an web browsers as a combfination are not new.
This was all preventable, and Microsoft need to stop making excuses for its
sloppy attitude. Whilst the Microsoft representatives did say that work is
happening with adaptive technology suppliers, the fact is that MS screwed
up and the strategy appears to be to lock out screen readers which even
today, perform better than the Narrator demos we've so far heard.
The very brief demonstrations did not tackle complex web based
interactions such as banking sites, cluttered newspaper feeds and travel
booking services.
Narrator has not progressed the question of braille.
Narrator has not truly advanced magnifier.
We need to remain cynical about Microsoft's attempts at improving Windows
accessibility. For me - Microsoft needs to do better with respect to
supporting VFO screen reader products, be these Window-Eyes or JAWS.
It is a very good thing that organisations such as ACB operate an
advisory relationship with Microsoft, (as mentioned in the podcast), it
needs to be brave and bold enough to provide public criticism when such
critique is required. If the NFB can do so with Apple, whose VoiceOver is
a better product than Narrator, ACB can certainly hold Microsoft to account.
The Main menu programme is independent of the opinions of Acb Radio and
the ACB, and long may that independence remain. Sometimes - discussions
like this latest one need to be able to mix public relations and awareness
of developments with strident editorial comment. Such background and
assimilation of divergent opinion could easily be a second podcast, and I
hope that such a follow-up happens soon.
Vaughan.
On 7/31/2016 1:31 AM, Russ Kiehne via Talk wrote:
This week on Main Menu we bring you the latest information from the folks
at Microsoft Corporation all about the new Windows 10 anniversary update
coming next week to a computer near you. Narrator, the screen reader
built-in to Windows 10 is the main focus of our discussion this week and we
brought a number of technology experts direct from Microsoft and elsewhere
to talk all about it. The following Microsoft engineers joined us on the
show from the Windows 10 Narrator accessibility team: Brett Humphrey, Kelly
Ford and Dan Hubbell. In addition, Joe Steinkamp joined us from the Blind
Bargains site as a technology expert on Windows 10. Microsoft has been hard
at work on significantly enhancing Narrator with new voices, performance
improvements, a new scan mode, new verbosity settings and so much more. We
ask Microsoft questions about the upgrade experience for Windows users and
we even dive into the positioning of Narrator as a viable commercial screen
reader. This is really
ju
st the start of what is a jam packed show. In fact, we have a slight
change for this week. We had so much content that was timely we will be
airing the content of the show on ACB Radio starting at 9:00 PM Eastern. If
you get the podcast version of the show there will be an additional 15
minutes of audio demonstrations of Narrator features included. Here are
some important links you should keep in mind for Windows 10: What is coming
up in Win10 Anniversary Update August 2 Ready to upgrade? AT user? Please
use this link for free upgrade to Windows 10 Narrator user guides and
documentation (this link will be live on August 2nd)
http://mainmenu.acbradio.org/podcast/2016-07-29.mp3
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