Oh, I loved wordperfekt. I knew much more about that than I have ever
learned about Microsoft word! Pam.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Samco via Talk
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 11:18 PM
To: Dave Basden ; Window-Eyes Discussion List
Subject: Re: history of window eyes
Yes, Malcom Holser wrote the original Vocal-Eyes for my use. Malcom
was very gifted in many ways. He was a coworker as I worked as an
interpretive ranger in Yosemite. In 1985 we went in together and
purchased a used IBM PC 8086 with 256 KB of RAM and 2 double-sided
5.25-inch floppy disc drives. Since it was used it only cost us
$3,000! Malcolm learned to program in assembler in writing
Vocal-Eyes. I also believe I was the first user of a screen reader to
use Word Perfect and alerted them to how well it worked with a screen
reader. I offered various suggestions to improve its accessibility.
Many screen reader users used this elegant and powerful word processor.
Jeff
At 11:41 AM 10/17/2016, you 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.
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