I think what Lynn and those of us who do not defend the
status quo are saying is that we know all this economy of scale
explanation. I wish I had a Penny for every time I have heard
why JAWS and WE cost more than the work stations they run on and
they represent running meters that keep costing and costing.
When they don't work, you pay. When they do work, you pay. It's
lovely for the developers and stinks for everybody else.
Apple also has development costs for Voiceover, but
since it is built in, everybody pays for it when they buy a Mac
or other Apple product. The difference is that the economy of
scale is spread out over millions of users and becomes an
insignificant cost to each user. Everybody wins and you have
ubiquity in that I could walk up to a strange person's Mac and
use Voiceover if needed. Try doing that with Windows.
The model presently in effect for Windows is
fundamentally unsustainable as Windows screen readers get more
and more expensive. That's what's really broken. We can get angry
at Freedom Scientific or Humanware, but what's really wrong is
Microsoft's decision many years ago not to produce a screen
reader but to let a chosen few businesses produce it for sale as
an extra-cost item. That is just wrong and I am surprised it
still goes on. We need a cure for the common cold, many other
human conditions and the idea that the Windows model for access
is good. It's like a lot that is wrong in the world. It benefits
a few at the expense of many and has been around long enough
that we except it as just the way things are. Human slavery was
similarly excepted as was drawing and quartering and the idea
that people of specific ethnic or racial heritage couldn't hold
certain jobs. There were always over-payed oafs in dress
clothing standing around pontificating on why the very fabric of
society would fall apart if things changed. Things changed and
society adjusted.
Sorry for the soap-box rant, but I can't defend what
seems totally wrong. Maybe I am wrong, but when I see how Apple
put Voiceover on their whole line of i products, it seems like a
sea change and it is the way things should be.
Microsoft also owns its operating system just like
Apple owns OSX. Microsoft could have built a true screen reader
in to Windows and their portable devices but consciously chose
not to. That's the difference. Otherwise, they are both
mass-market operating systems with one being already accessible
and the other one not so without extra cost and effort. Why is
this even defensable?
Martin
Dane Trethowan writes:
> 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.
>
>
> On 28/12/2011, at 5:45 AM, Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith wrote:
>
> > Hello Paul
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > Lynne
> >
> >
> > On 27 Dec 2011, at 17:52, Paul Hopewell wrote:
> >
> > HI Lynne,
> > Although WindowEyes may seem expensive it and other assistive
> technology products have a small market compared with mainstream
> software. Last time I looked the GWMicro team was about 20 strong and
> they all have to be paid. The cost of employing each person could be
> around 100 K dollars including costs like office space. to support this
> GWMicro has to make around 2 million dollars a year, which means they
> have to sell around 4000 copies of WindowEyes a year. Software pricing
> critically depends on sales volumes which will always be small for
> specialised areas like assistive technology.
> > Now to someone like Apple or even Microsoft 2 million dollars a year is
> a small sum which they can easily absorb. the only way to get affordable
> assistive technology is for it to be included in mainstream products like
> Apple or for it to b provided in a not for profit way like NVDA and
> Thunder. The latter though cannot bring sufficient resources to bear to
> keep their offerings fully up to date with the ever changing user
> environment.
> > So lets not be too harsh on GWMicro.!
> > Best regards....
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