Hi list, particularly BrailleNote Apex users, as a question about the downfalls of Apex, I wonder the same too - not as a sense of wonderment, but as a sense of where to begin. Actually, when I think about it, the biggest downfall, or disadvantage is actually the greatest advantage that we have: For starters, I am talking about not being able to write programs so that we (the programmers and power users) can give it back to the community. You may ask, "how come it is the greatest advantage for us." The chief reason: more user communication and feedback, which results from and to greater advocacy for it. In simple language, not being able to write programs means we can try our best in "convincing" HumanWare about it, which is the fruitful reason why Apex is here in the first place - the endless requests of new and updated hardware and software resulted in the arrival of Apex. If a feature set is already here, there is no need for requesting it in newer firmware, but maybe a suggestion or two for fixing problems and adding enhancements would come up. In our discussion here, if the ability to write third-party BrailleNote programs is here, then we would have hundreds of programs for enhancing our lives. Most of users' comments would be directed towards these programs, not the actual guy that allowed us to write these "additional programs" in the first place. My opinion then, is this: the biggest downfall yet the most sought advantage under BrailleNote Apex is not that units are crashing, odd things happen when we print things out or that it doesn't support Word 2007 documents. Rather, it's the very thing that allows people with creative minds to come upwith something that "fuels" the very nature of computers, and in extension, the Apex: ability to write programs to enhance the livelyhood of people. This is also the greatest advantage that we have: being able to allow our voices to be heard and more steps in advocacy being taken. If you have any comments, please let us know. Sincerely, Joseph S. Lee University of California, Riverside Email: [email protected] Blog: Musings of a Blind Highlander - http://joslee22590.blogspot.com
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