Indeed, Kevin. I determinedly supported the BrailleNote for quite some time, especially after hearing from HumanWare that they were "quite advanced" in a Microsoft Word engine. Unfortunately, though, nothing's being released along those lines, and as you point out, whether RTF, DOC, DOCX or PDF, the Omni has you covered, along with PowerPoint and a reader mode for E-Reader applications. You mention converting files to RTF. Unfortunately, the BrailleNote doesn't seem to like RTF files generated by Microsoft Word, so those just open as blank files. These just aren't reasonable things to have to explain to sighted people who take the time to provide you with documents in accessible formats.
I think if HumanWare wants to retain a loyal BrailleNote user base, they owe us an explanation. Grant On 1/30/09, Kevin Chao <[email protected]> wrote: > > The PAC Mate Omni supports PDF, Word 2007, Powerpoint 2007 and much more. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Karyn Campbell > Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 8:20 AM > To: Braillenote Discussion List > Subject: RE: [Braillenote] Press Release: KeySoft 8.0 > > Richard, > > You are right that this is not student-friendly due to the lack of better > support for complex Word documents. As I said in a previous post, people > cannot continually ask for things to be sent as text files or in rich text > format. They will be told to get a solution that better meets their needs > and the BN is looking like it is not it. > > Thank you for the info on how other devices handle Word documents. Do any > of the devices you mentioned, the voice sense, the Braille sense, the > Braille Plus or the Ikon, handle Word 2007 documents? I would be > interested > in knowing the answer to that one. > > I too would have thought that an OS upgrade, as difficult as it might be, > is > long overdue. Again, we will be left behind if this is not the case. I > also agree with those who say that the fix for Bookshare should have been > released as a patch. As I have said, HW had some good publicity with the > release of the DBC but have followed this up with a collossal failure on > the > Bookshare issue and, I would add, more which includes lack of Word support > and support for HTML E-mail, both of which users have been asking for for > years. I am growing tired of hearing that the Word issue is a Microsoft > issue. We have been told this for so many years that I begin to wonder > where the truth lies on that one. > > > > Barbara, did you get an answer yet regarding your question about the DBC > and > Keysoft 8.0 due to the Bookshare issue? I hope you get an answer and that > other DBC users get an answer on that one as well. > > Karyn Campbell, Illinois USA, [email protected] > VN QT M Power user running KS 7.5 B 28. > Check out my Blog at packerbrat.livejournal.com > > > Internal Virus Database is out of date. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1859 - Release Date: 12/20/2008 > 2:34 PM > > > ___ > Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. > If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a > copy to the list as well. > > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [email protected] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > ___ > Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. > If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a > copy to the list as well. > > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [email protected] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [email protected] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
