Hello Dane As for what does Apple have to do with Window-Eyes, that's where you are twisting my words to suit your own meaning. I simply made the comment that if Apple could incorporate accessibility into its platforms, (in the plural), then why can't Microsoft do the dame; and I'm not talking about Narrator which, as we all know, is pathetic. I'm not, as you seem to be implying, drawing comparisons between GW Micro and Apple; that would be totally erroneous since the two are very different entities. My comparison was between Apple and Microsoft.
I never for a second stated that Apple was sun-shining-out-of-ass! I'm well aware of the accessibility limitations for those who, for whatever reason, are pressured or simply afraid not to move from Microsoft's formats. Some people have work commitments and I above all understand that. I'm an employer myself and although not the same kind of issues, my employees have to adhere to certain standards. All I said was that Apple has done a fine job of implementing accessibility. Yes, I know there's a long way to go; that's why people such as my other half work with Apple to try and get us to the point where we want to be; the point where we can say we have total access. As for my so-called "bold" claim" about Apples platforms becoming more popular, it's not "bold" at all, it's simply fact. I did not, if you read what I said properly, make the comment that more and more blind people are using Apple's computers. I really didn't say that. Here is a quote from the relevant portion of my message: <SNIP> > • I'm not in a position to argue the exact stats and figures, so I wouldn't > like to in any way contradict your quotes. However, Apple has shown what's > possible if the developer is prepared to play ball, so to speak. The number > of vision impaired people using their products is rising rapidly; even > Freedom Scientific's own vice president is an iPhone user I believe. So > although I see your point, I really think it's a case of milking the customer > for all they can get. > </SNIP> Now, you'll see that what I referred too was Apple's Products, not Apple's "Computers"; there's a huge difference. Lynne On 27 Dec 2011, at 20:15, Dane Trethowan wrote: And what's Apple got to do with Window-Eyes? We're talking too completely different scenarios here it seems. Apple are developing their computers, their operating system and so on thus its easier for the company to incorporate such useful features such as a Screen Reading solution, a magnifier or whatever else into an operating system as they've done. Gw Micro, Freedom Scientific and the rest are third party developers who have to work within the framework as set down by Microsoft so I would imagine that this restriction hampers developers somewhat thus extra time has to be spent on the development of a Screen reading system, not to mention the fact that accessibility for the Windows operating system itself seems to be going backwards these days and that's not a fault of the Screen Reader developers rather its a fault of Microsoft. As for more and more blind people using Apple Computers with Voiceover? That's a very bold claim and I've certainly seen no data to support it, Apple still have quite a long way to go and I'm sure they'll get there eventually, look at how far JFW has come over 10 years. Fact is that integration between a Mac and Windows is still a problem in some areas and a classic example of this can be found with Microsoft Office documents, the whole Microsoft suite is accessible under windows and one could say - for better or for worse - that the Microsoft Office suite is a standard so far so good. When you come to using a Microsoft Office document on a Mac - particularly if you're using Voiceover - then its an entirely different and sometimes complex ball game. Microsoft Office isn't accessible on the Mac so that's the first major handicap so the only solutions from here are third party applications and some are more successful with Microsoft Office files than others, as I understand it Nisus Writer Pro for example handles Microsoft Word Documents than does Pages but neither handle them with 100% accuracy. ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
