Hello David

Regarding your last point, you are mistaken about the 30-minute demo being time 
limited. It never has been as I understand it. The limitation is that it works 
only once in a single session; but you can reboot as often as you like for as 
long as you like and use it for 30 minutes. So says the GW Micro website. Also 
there is a 6-days evaluation license available in which you can use the 
software as extensively as you wish. But that really isn't a prt of the project.

Market share is totally irrelevant to the specific study I am hoping to 
undertake. Also there is one important factor which must be taken into account. 
Because I have never used Jaws and, therefore, have no knowledge as to how to 
use it to the best of its capabilities, I am a little reluctant to do so. I 
would prefer not to undertake that side of the study because I simply don't 
have the experience. It has been made all too obvious in the last few hours by 
virtue of content which was placed on the sister list, mac Access, what happens 
if you try to draw conclusions without having the knowledge. The data provided 
can often be misleading and grossly unfair. I am keen not to make that mistake 
and, therefore, I think it best to stick to what I know something about.

There is also another reason why I'm leaning towards precluding Jaws from this 
experiment. Jaws relies quite heavily, as I understand it, on paid-for-access 
scripting in order to make many applications function properly. Since I'd only 
be using a demo, I'm not in a position to play around with these scripts and, 
therefore, results would be tainted.

Although I am not sure as to the validity of your statistics in the current 
marketplace. I haven't studied them but it seems to me that Jaws is rapidly 
losing ground to the other cheaper and equally usable applications.

On a personal note we have good reason to avoid Jaws; although that isn't part 
of my thinking in terms of this project.

Lynne

On 3 Sep 2011, at 13:43, David Griffith wrote:

There are supporters of both Window 
Eyes and Jaws.  The penetration of Jaws into the screen reader market far 
outstrips Window Eyes  Eyes though so I think you should perhaps reconsider 
excluding it to provide best context for your study .
I have not got the stats to hand but the last time I looked at survey  data  
jaws continued   to have over 70% usage compared to other screen readers. This 
of course does not mean that it is a superior product. These survey findings 
have been hotly discussed on other lists and people argue, perhaps reasonably 
that Jaws dominance is perhaps due to technology assessors not looking beyond 
the Jaws option.    Fortunately it is feasible to use Jaws as a free resource . 
Any  version of Jaws after I think Jaws 7 can be downloaded and used as a time 
unlimited 40 minute demo. This is why nowadays it is perfectly feasible to use 
Jaws in conjunction with a free option. Things may have  changed on the Windows 
Eyes front but the last time I looked the 30 minute  demo was a time limited 
feature. I hope that this is no longer the case.    ..  
David Griffith
[email protected]



On 3 Sep 2011, at 12:27, Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith wrote:

> Hello David
> 
> There is one name you've missed out here and to be honest, it would probably 
> be the one I use alongside NVDA for the purposes of this experiment. That 
> being Window-Eyes from GW Micro. Gordon has a licensed copy of WE 7.5.1 
> although he's distinctly unimpressed by what it has to offer as opposed to 
> the previous version. Jaws is what I presume you mean by JFW and it is a 
> reader which I have never even seen. As a visually abled person I only see 
> what is available to me in the accessibility field but I think the route I 
> will go here is to install the latest version of NVDA alongside the latest 
> version of Window-Eyes. That should suffice for the project I am undertaking.
> 
> there is actually a practical reason why I'm doing this; a friend of ours who 
> works for Teesside University is engaged is a lecturer in computer science at 
> the university and he was looking for somebody in my situation who would be 
> willing to volunteer to help him compile a module on accessibility for use in 
> the upcoming academic year by his students so I volunteered. He contacted 
> Gordon and I because he's a friend of ours as I said and he didn't know 
> anybody else who he could ask. We think it's good that he's interested in 
> adding a module based around accessibility into his lectures and Gordon and I 
> will be going over there to give a practical demonstration and a talk to one 
> of his students' groups. I want to be as informed as possible, and that is 
> the prime reason I'm taking this on.
> 
> Of course there will be a discussion of Voiceover and Zoom on both Mac  OS X 
> and iOS as well. I want the sessions we do over there to be as broad-ranging 
> as possible.
> 
> Lynne
> 
> On 3 Sep 2011, at 11:29, David Griffith wrote:
> 
> I would include the free NVDA screenreader as part of your study. I have se 
> up Windows 7 under VM Fusion in order to retain access to my   must have 
> utilities whilst I make the transition to the Mac. Although NVDA is free it 
> sometimes outperforms the Jaws 11 screenreader I am using. Some programs 
> which are inaccessible with Jaws are perfectly accessible with NVDA. The 
> reverse is true so it is generally a good idea to have at least a free 40 
> minute demo version of jaws alongside NVDA if you want to go the free route. 
> The other advantage of NVDA is that it can be run portably on any Windows 
> system without having to install special drivers.
> Similar points have also been made about the free SA to  Go screen reader 
> which runs from a web connection. I have not found it necessary to use this 
> as NVDA meets all my portable needs. 
> 
> 
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