Doug is there any word if window Eyes will be staying around?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Geoffray via Talk" <talk@lists.window-eyes.com>
To: <talk@lists.window-eyes.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 9:15 AM
Subject: Re: history of window eyes
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.
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