The answer is a resounding no! but not because it is a
bad or different interface, etc. Do you realize that Windows,
the most common computer OS in the world, still does not
have accessibility built in?
It is the only such operating system that at least
hasn't tried and this is by design.
I may be the only voice left on Earth who still thinks
this is the living definition of wrong, but it is wrong with a
capital W. For those "geniuses" in Redmond, it may be a capital
R.
Apple, Linux and Android have all built screen readers
of varying degrees of elegance and functionality but the
important thing is that there is a generally usable to good
screen reader and Braille support interface on every device that
is not using Windows.
You not only have to get sighted assistance to
un-cripple any Windows device that needs a screen reader but you
must make the cash register ring in twelve-part harmony and
start a running meter or two to get and keep this fundamental
privilege.
I am vaguely aware of some of the politics and angst
that went in to the way things are, but Microsoft is the
copyright holder, therefore, the boss.
One suggestion that was made years ago when Windows and
commercial screen readers first came out was for MS to
buy distribution rights to JFW or Window-Eyes, include it in
every version of Windows sold and, of course, pay the developers
royalties.
This would probably be more money than they get today,
maybe a Dollar or two added to the cost of Windows, and a big
win for everybody.
It is just proof that if you do the wrong thing long
enough, people stop asking why or even think this is wrong. They
just start accepting it as the way the world came, roll over and
play dead.
By the way, Microsoft said no to that idea and even some
of the blindness organizations said they'd rather have what we
have now. That positively makes me scratch my head.
There is a short list of questions in my mind that if I
should live to be a thousand years old, I will most likely never
hear satisfactory answers to. Most of these questions are
sociological and philosophical so they don't fit in this
discussion list, but one that does is why does the most
pervasive computer operating system on Earth not come
ready to serve users who can't see the screen? Notice I didn't
say users who happen to be blind. When two people are in the
dark or not in sight of one another, they speak or shout. It's
redundancy which is a concept as old as nature. For all the talk
about user interfaces, Microsoft is still missing in action with
their inaction on making their flag-ship operating system
conform to the laws of nature.
By the way, the last money Microsoft made from me was
when I bought DOS4.0, I think.
That may have been about 30 years ago.
Martin
Dane Trethowan writes:
> I'm still using Windows 7 but after reading this article I have to admit
> to really looking forward to an upgrade to Windows 8 at some stage next
> year.
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