Hi BrailleNote List, HumanWare staff and others,
This is Joseph Lee, a freshman student majoring in computer
science at University of California, Riverside. I'd like to
first thank HumanWare for their continued efforts on KeySoft 8.0,
which has been rumored to be released towards end of June of this
year. In light of this, coupled with other recent devolopments,
I'd like to announce tentative schedule and objectives for much
anticipated Sixth BrailleNote Chat.
Introduction
The BrailleNote Chat series, started in 2004, provides a way of
communication between HumanWare staff and users around the world.
The main topics of the chat were current and announced, upcoming
KeySoft versions of the day, such as KeySoft 6.1 for 2004.
Recently, the topics of the chat has shifted to include comments
on other products, technical assistance and future of
BrailleNote, such as supposed operating system upgrade, other
blindness devices, and, more recently, ability for programmers to
develop software for BrailleNote, which according to one chat
session, was known to be in talks since KeySoft 3.0 days (around
2000 and 2001). In addition to discussing these topics,
BrailleNote Chat sessions have become a "plaza of communication"
between BrailleNote users around the world, such as exchanging
tips, assisting and advising on issues and so forth. For this
upcoming Sixth BrailleNote Chat, which the current series was
inaugurated on July 2007, I would like to continue the tradition
of fellowship, announcements and recent KeySoft developments and
so forth.
Timing of the Sixth Chat
As of writing of this announcement, as a host, I'm planning to
conduct this sixth chat sometime in summer for Northern
Hemisphere. More specifically, I would like to host it on a time
when people would have plenty of time to comment on issues and
times of mass excitement (preferably around convention time) to
maximize participation. This year, however, I would like to keep
this in mind when planning for this chat, and that is KeySoft 8.0
and its impact on our computing lives.
Anticipation for KeySoft 8.0
There were excited posts since last year when HumanWare first
publicized list of new feature sets of KeySoft 8.0. While some
features drew excitement, others caused massive outcry from the
list: end of support for BrailleNote Classic models. Some
disappointment was caused, as it was revealed, that this release
would not include much anticipated operating system upgrade,
which was requested by many users for some time.
One of the new features that caused excitement was inclusion of
Instant Messaging (IM) support. This feature, demonstrated at a
conference event, was reported to support Google Talk, an IM
service offered by Google, Inc. - providers of popular Gmail
email accounts. This was accomplished by support XMTP, an open
messaging standard that is being adopted as of time of this
article. But after initial heightened talks, disappointment
washed ruer the users, as it was later revealed (at the same
conference session) that this IM client, known as KeyChat, would
not support popular IM interface such as Windows Live Messender
(formerly MSN Messenger), AIM (AOL Instant Messender) and so
forth. Although HW reassures that, in the future the adoption of
XMTP by these messenders would allow BrailleNote users to
exchange instant messages between contacts, the initial
disappointment was high due to lack of support for popular
clients by the time of release.
Another massive outcry occurred as a result of changes with
Bookshare's site and compression format. Although HW noted that
support for new book compression format is included in 8.0,
several users, particularly Classic users were disappointed at
the fact of losing access to newer Bokkshare contents. This has
been resolved through an update to current KeySoft 7.5 ROM image.
Objectives of this upceming chat
The objectives of this chat are, just as last chat series,
twofold: first, to allow fellowship of BrailleNote users around
the world. This allows sharing of tips, assistance with problems
and comment on recent development with BrailleNote. Second, to
allow dialogue with HumanWare to receive updates on new
devolopment, as well as to present users' comments and ideas for
current and planned software. This time, a new umbrella has been
erected where these two pictures come into contact, and that is
KeySoft 8.0. Due to this "big table," I have decided to host the
chat AFTER KeySoft 8.0 has been released, in order to:
* Allow users to report comments about this new release,
including reported bugs, useful findings and suggestions.
* To allow HumanWare to report to users as to data that was
gathered about this new software between release and the chat
session.
These above two objectives justify, along with two broad
objectives of fellowingship and company-user communications, a
plan for hosting a chat event during upcoming months.
Conclusion
There is no such thing as empty-handed release. Each new product
announcement, particularly from influential companies, draws
substantial crowd. The announcement of KeySoft 8.0, along with
demonstrations of new features, drew considerable crowd to the
new scene in BrailleNote's history. Some of the features were
results of users' endless suggestions, such as instant messaging
client, while others came as current technical trends merited
their inclusion, such as newer Bookshare compression format
support and among others. But, as it happens, a product cannot
establish a true footing in our lives unless molded by its users.
This is the very objective of this upcoming Sixth BrailleNote
Chat: all about KeySoft 8.0 and its impact on our lives. KeySoft
8.0 could not have been introduced if there were no suggestions
for new features, continued communication between users and
HumanWare, and most importantly of all, continued molding process
of communication and sharing amongst users which continues to
shape BrailleNote's future. And one of the most inflential ways
of designing the future of this series of blindness PDA's from
HumanWare is a stream of dialogue between us - from one user to
another, and by extension, from users to the company and vice
versa, and I believe chat sessions (among others) is an important
tool for shaping KeySoft 8.0 and preventing a repeat of a
phenomenon that I would only describe as "Severe Faults with
Seven-Five." This, perhaps, is the key reason why I want to plan
it so that we could present our thoughts about 8.0 after "playing
around" with the release - so that, when the time is up, we can
continue to mold it so that it can benefit not only the would-be
participants of this chat session in the summer, but other users
as well.
I hope that the above article summarizes my answers to questions
about the chat. I apologize if I used harsh comments on some
text. Again, I'd like to commend HumanWare's efforts on bringing
this release not just on time, but with reasonable stability.
Sincerely,
Joseph Lee
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