Hi folks,
Well, as a participant in the KeySoft 8.0 presentation, I'd like
to say that I have mixed feelings. I feel that it was just a
repeat and audio version of the press release that we've seen
several weeks ago, with two news being a build of KeySoft 7.5 to
fix Bookshare issue and support for WPA.
* Personally, I believe the intention of using open-source XMPP
protocol for KeyChat (which I'll do a research on in coming days)
is, in my opinion, not a helpful decision. Although it has
potential of being able to talk to people using iChat and Google
Talk, the majority of the people use services such as Windows
Live (formerly called MSN) and AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). If
there was an extension that would bridge between this XMPP and
these proprietary methods of communications that Windows Live and
AIM and others use, then it would have been a helpful feature.
Also, from what I've heard briefly, there's no way of using
KeyChat in "real-time communication" - where a user can send
message and be alerted with the new message instantly (although
it might have not been covered). One needs to use a separate
menu item to write a message and another menu item to review new
messages, which "almost defeats" the very fundamental method for
using chat clients - real-time alerts and instant reply. Unless
if there is a way to write a message using a hotkey while
reviewing the messages exists, then I believe KeyChat would be
yet another "Eloquence for mPower" feature - using system
resources and producing bad productivity.
* While mentioning Eloquence, one of the concerns that I have for
PK users is the repetition of "eloquence troubles" on the PK -
excessive use of system memory up to the point of generating "out
of memory" errors. Since PK has smaller RAM compared to mPower,
this raises the probability of getting this message (unless
HumanWare took time to examine this on the mPower as well).
* Another thing that I'd like to mention is WPA support. This
also connects to this "wpapsk" product key. This key, as it
turns out, was used as testing purposes to see if WPA encryption
feature works as expected. WPA, short for WiFi Protected Access,
is a way of securing a wireless network from outside access via a
stronger pass phrase that is longer and more powerful than WEP
(Wired Equivalent Privacy). All WiFi routers (those conforming
to IEEE 802.111G standard supports this security feature. But I
also heard that this security thing can also be broken as well.
As to how it is done, I don't know... sorry.
* As for Audible support, according to the presentation, it
supports Kudible version 4 downloadable books. Also, there is no
support for protected WMA books due to loss of book reading
features (this is because the WMA is essentially audio file).
* Some of the disappointment include no info on OS upgrade (there
were messages on this list about this, so I won't mention it
here), somewhat of a tedious workaround for working with Word and
HTML emails (I'll upload the workarounds on my PBWiki site later
this week) and so forth.
* Because the new Bookshare format is a zip file, we can open ZIP
archive, but not the other way around. In other words, we can
unzip things but we cannot zip a file or a group of them.
Other comments:
* Although there were some questions, the majority of the people
who have stayed behind and had a discussion agree that an SDK
would open doors for implementation of our suggestions by
third-party folks. Some of them include unit converter (which I
have actually written a prototype), Word extension to open Word
2007 files and so forth.
* Also, the definition of "embedded system" was also discussed--a
system within a system; a good example that was pointed out was a
laptop designed to control a car.
That's all I have today. As for the limitations of Windows CE
and other things that some people have talked about, if the
majority wants it, I am willing to do some more research and
write something for you (or someone else who has time and
knowledge could do it in more simler form). As for
judging/grading KeySoft 8.0, let us do it after it is released,
shall we? (My preliminary pre-release grade for this software is
a B minus; although it adds features for better book reading
experience, the words about KeyChat and disappointment over no
presence of needy suggestion puts this next version in jeopardy,
in my opinion).
Well, that's it for me... But I hope that, for those who wants
to experiment with KeySoft 8.0 when it is released towards end of
March (including myself and others), I'd say, "good luck with
it". For those who prefer not to upgrade, I'd say, "don't lose
hope" - I know there would be a better future KeySoft.
Cheers,
Joseph
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