This statement about NVDA, which has been echoed here many times, isn't
nearly as true as it's made out to be. Yes, it is open source software.
But it's developed by a company that just happens to be a non-profit.
Anyone that knows what they're doing goes to that company's site and
downloads the program they have compiled, which is no different than any
other screen reader.
Yes, I or anyone else capable can compile a demonic version of it. But I
would then have to get people to go somewhere else and download it. And
as is the case with JAWS and Window-Eyes I believe most people are going
to find the NVDA site to do so. There are countless sites out there
trying to lure people into downloading hacker's impersonations of plenty
of commercial software. So it's no different.
Also there is a lot of open source software out there that many people,
companies, and government agencies use every day. Heck, the Linux
operating system is open source and used all around the world. If open
source software were such a threat it would not be the enormous
time-honored segment of the industry it is.
I'm only saying this because I don't think falsely scaring people away
from a very legitimate option is helpful. Quite the contrary. In fact,
be it that there is no script repository for JAWS, users are at a much
higher risk of being hacked because they have to go to the sites of
strangers to purchase and download those scripts. Conversely,
Window-Eyes scripts distributed through the company site were scanned
before being made available. I don't know if NVDA does this but I
imagine they do.
Yes, government and commercial organizations may very well disallow its
use on their systems. But that's because they don't want to be bothered
with verifying that the proper version has been downloaded and
installed, not because it is extremely vulnerable to being hacked.
Regards,
Tom
On 7/1/2017 9:30 AM, Amanda Lee via Talk wrote:
As has been pointed out. NVDA is Open-Source which makes it extremely
vulnerable to being hacked or used to exploit Ransomeware or otherwise.
Government and Commercial organizations are not likely to approve NVDA in
their Business Model for Adaptive Technology.
NVDA is fine for personal use but I would use it at one's own risk. Just be
very certain to be vigilent with antivirus and malware protection.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sky Mundell via Talk" <[email protected]>
To: "'Joseph Norton'" <[email protected]>; "'Window-Eyes Discussion
List'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2017 12:41 AM
Subject: RE: future use of WE
Or you can also put NVDA on as well, NVDA should not be overlooked as its
becoming extremely popular and I want to assure you guys that NVDA will not
be going away anytime soon and I think System Access from Serotek is still
alive and I don't see SA going away anytime soon. So Neither NVDA, or SA
will be going away anytime soon.
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Joseph Norton via Talk
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2017 8:59 PM
To: 'Don H'; 'Window-Eyes Discussion List'
Subject: RE: future use of WE
Hi:
Let me say that I'm typing this message in Outlook 2016 with WE 9.5.4 with
no significant problems.
However, I am using Windows 10 Insider Preview build 16232. WE is working
for some things, but, it always comes up with the four beeps, indicating
video driver issues. In the about box, WE says "Video Driver not Attached".
WE still responds to Internet Explorer as usual. It's possible I won't be
able to use the mouse pointer for a lot of things. I do think WE is still
using UI Automation, since it works extremely well with Bard Express, to
site one example.
So, I don't think WE will just quit. There are things it won't access as
well, due to program changes and no response from WE developers. So, until
the Fall Creator's update comes out, WE should keep working without major
issues.
I was using it with the Windows 10 mail app, but, they did something and it
no longer seems to work. This is a modern app and is subject to change
through the use of MS's update system.
Now, if you're using Windows 7/8/8.1, you probably won't notice much for a
while, as most things will not be updated to be incompatible.
If WE is doing what you want, keep using it. If you can take advantage of
the offer from VFO, go ahead and accept it, so it'll be in reserve if
something really gets broken.
Remember, you can put JAWS on the computer and it won't hurt anything. That
way, you can switch quickly from one to the other.
ThankS!
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk
[mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Don H via Talk
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2017 3:45 PM
To: Window-Eyes Discussion List <[email protected]>
Subject: future use of WE
I have been a WE user for over 20 years and always felt it was the best
screen reader. Now with no more development I have to realize that the next
major release of Win 10 just may stop WE dead in its tracks. As I recall in
the past every new release of Windows required an update to WE to make WE
work with it. So now if you plan on using WE well into the future you are
probably going to have to avoid any future major Windows upgrades. Is that
a bad thing who knows.
I am finding that NVDA does a pretty good job with very few things it
doesn't do as well as WE. I did take up VFO's offer of a free copy of Jaws
and am using it as my secondary screen reader. If you plan on staying with
a Windows based computer I don't understand why you would not take the free
copy of Jaws. Actually the Jaws SMA's are less expensive than the WE SMA's
I had purchased in the past.
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