Just wanted to correct a few things (smile). Malcolm created Screen-Talk which later became Screen-Talk Pro (linked with ProKey). As stated, he may of wanted to call this Vocal-Eyes but Bill Grimm didn't like that name, at the time. I had nothing to do with Screen-Talk. I did create most of the Apple 2 software such as Braille-Out which later turned to Braille-Talk, and Word-Talk and File-Talk and Term-Talk (prior to Term-Talk it was Talking Transend) and several other smaller things as well as the TTS engine for all Sounding Board variants. I also created all the software for the Small-Talk portable computer, except for the Calc-Talk module, ah, fun times (smile).
In 1988 I started from scratch with Vocal-Eyes. This was completely different from the work Malcolm did. I almost finished Vocal-Eyes when Bill Grimm got burnt out and decided to close Computer Aids, which officially closed November 1989. I had started working at Computer Aids in the early 80's as a contractor and around 1983 started full time as an employee. Dan Weirich started around 1987ish and worked on the hardware. So after Computer Aids closed in 1989, Dan and I started GW Micro February 15, 1990. I spent another 6 or so months finalizing Vocal-Eyes and released it right after that. As for Bill Grimm, he did die but it was a few years later...I can't remember the exact year but it was around 1994 or 95. We started working on Window-Eyes around 1994 and released 1.0 in October 1995. Doug On 10/17/2016 2:41 PM, Dave Basden via Talk wrote: > I might add that Malcolm, who worked as a ranger at Yosemite near > Fresno where I lived at the time, initially called his PC screenreader > Vocal-Eyes and I was one of the beneficiaries. He had originally > designed it for a fellow ranger at Yosemite who was only partially > sighted. I still see his name on the lists occasionally. Bill Grimm > was then naming all his software releases Whatever-talk, so when > Malcolm teamed up with Computer Aids, the program was renamed Screen > Talk. When Doug Geoffrey took over Computer Aids, he named his screen > reader Vocal-Eyes. Apparently Malcolm had no objection to that. > Actually Doug wasn't even aware that the name had been used by > Malcolm. Later GW Micro released Window-Eyes for Windows as, as you > know, Vocal-Eyes was a DOS screen reader. > > Dave > > At 04:02 AM 10/17/2016, you wrote: >> I don't have time to write a very long message, but here's a little >> of the story. >> In the early 1980s Bill Grimm formed a company, Computer Aids >> Corporation, to create software for the Apple II family of computers. >> They teamed up with Malcolm Holser to create a screen reader for DOS >> called Screen-Talk, which was released in 1985, which I bought and >> used. In 1986 Screen-Talk was linked with ProKey, a macro program, >> and its functionality was extended. Somewhere in there, Doug Geoffray >> was hired as a programmer. In 1988 Computer Aids released the >> Sounding Board, an ISA-compatible speech synthesizer that used the >> SSI-263 speech chip that was common in those days. Dan Wyrick did >> major work on that project. Near that time Bill Grimm died. >> Dan and Doug put together a new company, GW Micro and marketed the >> new-generation DOS screen reader as Vocal-Eyes. >> The first Windows 3.0 screen reader was OutSpoken, released in the >> summer of 1992. Later came Automatic Screen Access for Windows and >> JAWS for Windows. Window-Eyes 1.0 came out quite late, in late 1995. >> It worked with Windows 3 and 3.1, even though Windows 95 was already >> out and had no screen reader support from anyone at first. >> Window-Eyes 2 was the first W-E version to support Windows 95, and >> came out in the spring of 1997, I think. >> The revision history of Window-Eyes is on the GW Micro website, going >> way back; it is instructive to read it to see where we have come from. >> >> >> Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, MD >> http://lras.home.sprynet.com >> -----Original Message----- From: Drew Clark via Talk >> Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 3:56 AM >> To: Window-Eyes Discussion List >> Subject: history of window eyes >> >> hi, >> >> i am interested to find out the history of window eyes, who created it >> and how it was started. is there any webpage/audio podcast that >> interviews the g and the w behind gw micro? >> >> thanks >> >> >> -- >> Sent using window eyes. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the >> author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. >> >> For membership options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/lras%40sprynet.com. >> For subscription options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> List archives can be found at >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> _______________________________________________ >> Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the >> author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. >> >> For membership options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/dave%40basden.us. >> For subscription options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> List archives can be found at >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > > _______________________________________________ > Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the > author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. > > For membership options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/dgeoffray%40aisquared.com. > For subscription options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > List archives can be found at > http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
