Grant, I have to agree with you on this statement. Although I haven't listened to the presentation, when I saw the features I was truly not impressed at all, and, should Humanware invite me to upgrade to 8.0, I will just stand up for myself and refuse, because I was seriously looking forward to things like OS upgrades, better Word support, HTML e-mail support, IMAP access, Windows Live Messenger support, improved bluetooth, etc. Are we going to get that? I very much doubt it at this moment in time. So I'm going to stick to KeySoft 7.5 Build 20, use my BrailleNote for notetaking and occasional Braille display use, and that's it. Sorry Humanware, but hope you understand why I'm quite concerned of the product falling behind in technology. Off my soapbox I go. P.S. I may even trade my BrailleNote in for a Netbook once I've graduated from university.
-- Chris Hallsworth e-mail: [email protected] MSN: [email protected] Skype: chrishallsworth7266 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Grant Hardy" <[email protected]> To: "BrailleNote mailing list" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 2:03 AM Subject: [Braillenote] KeyChat Isn't Looking Too Pretty Hi all, In today's Tech Talk presentation on KeySoft 8, I emphasized the fact that while nearly everyone on the University of British Columbia campus with me carries around laptops and mobile devices with Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, I know nobody who uses Google Talk, iChat, or any other open instant messaging service. And with two other notetaking products--the Braille Sense and the PAC Mate--supporting Windows Live, I asked at what stage, if at all, the BrailleNote would follow suit. In an evasive response, Dave Wilkinson from Humanware implied that somehow Windows Live and Yahoo! were going to disintegrate, so it really isn't necessary anyway. Not true: the one and only reason neither Yahoo! nor Windows Live need to use an open instant messaging standard is due to the sheer volume of users who already populate their services. Rather than adapting to this truth as other competing products have, the BrailleNote from Humanware will change the way you communicate in realtime...if you can convince everyone you know to switch instant mesaging clients. There is also no way to sign in invisibly (also called appearing offline) in KeyChat. This is standard in all other messaging clients that I have come across, and is a great way to see who's online without getting flooded with instant messages. Greg Stilson from Humanware discounted this and called it "kinda creepy", so apparently the BrailleNote user base will not see this function, either. Normally I don't rant, but I am upset with the attitude of these Humanware representatives: instead of politely stating that these essential features are not yet present in KeyChat, they instead discounted their importance. So to summarize: communicate in real time with the 1 % of your friends that KeyChat will support, and don't expect to be able to sign in invisibly, cuz that's just kinda creepy! Grant ___ 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
