Hello again list, As I said previously, the other man's grass always looks greener! Rather than ranting on this list, I'd say sell your BN and get that Packmate. I say the BN works! It is simple to run! It may have its problems but so does the Packmate! Should the battery dischaarge too far down, one could lose all their data including the operating system which would need to be loaded again! I experienced this kind of thing when I first had a BNS Classic! I was constantly losing data! I don't wish to put up with that again! I have heard a great deal of disappointment with the Packmate from many I know and respect when it comes to computer technology! Yes, I am interested in wireless networks now that I'm on one myself! I'd like to be able to use my notetaker on such a network! I can go on and on but I don't think there is anything more powerful than the purse or the word of mouth! If you feel as you do, go for it! Perhaps I may get a Packmate when it is more stable but I think my BN will co! ntinue to be a very useful reliable tool for some time to come. Whenever I have seen a Packmate, I couldn't figure out how to operate it without spending much time with it! I could do any number of things with a BN in a few short minutes! I don't think either is dead, but then you should get the technology that best meets your needs! One thing that can be said, the BN works consistently even though it has a few problems! It has been great for me as I change EMAIL providers! I'm able to keep track of all posts between both addresses before I settle everything!
I wish you the very best and hope you will find some technology that will meet your satisfaction if that is possible! Jim Aldrich > ----- Original Message ----- >From: "Kirstyn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: Braillenote List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 21:43:24 +0000 (UTC) >Subject: Re: [Braillenote] Another idea for future upgrades: >Hi List, > I am doing this just once because I have seen how some members of this > list can react irrationally whenever the BrailleNote is being compared to the > PACMate. Since these people do not like product comparisons on a support > list, then let me post these observations and corrections in support of a > better understanding of what the BrailleNote lacks, what users are too blind > to see, and to correct the computer ignorance and PM misinformation that has > been going around, at least on this list. > First of all, as a couple of listers have posted, the HumanWare person's > idea of multi-tasking is incorrect. What we have now on the BrailleNote is > task-switching which is different from multi-tasking that the PACMate > supports and any computer-literate person will understandably request. Can > we write email or a document while checking new mail? No, because the BN does > not multi-task. Can we listen to an MP3 tutorial and take down notes in a > document at the same time? No, because the BN does not multi-task. This > should also answer the comment that being able to listen to an > MP3--music--while doing something else is not important. Remember that > people use the MP3 player not just for music but also for listening to books > or tutorials. Can we have more than one file open in KeyWord? No, because > the BN does not multi-task and must exit and save the file you have left to > open another. As mentioned, the PM can multi-task and so if these questions > were asked about the PA! CM > ate, the answers will all be yes. > Someone said, in a moment of confusion, I hope, and not of ignorance, that > you do not have more than one window open at the same time on a computer. > This is incorrect. When you have a file open in Windows, and you press > CONTROL with o to open another, the window for the first file is not closed > but minimized. The focus will be on the window of the second file. When you > exit the second file with ALT with F4, the focus is returned to the window of > the first file unless you have other windows open but minimized. If we do > this in KeyWord, exiting the second file will return you to the KeyWord Menu, > not the last file you have been to, which proves that you cannot have more > than one file open. > Next thing I would like to correct is that people seem to be defending the > BrailleNote against the PACMate by saying that it is not a laptop. I am not > arguing that the BrailleNote is a laptop because it is not marketed as a > laptop but as a notetaker/PDA. But neither has the PACMate been marketed as > a laptop, and I don't know where some listers here got the idea that it was. > I hope this is not one of PDI's vague attempt to create wrong impressions > about the competition just to keep their customers. > If you subscribe to the PM list--by sending a blank email to [EMAIL > PROTECTED] will read some posts that remind new users to keep their > expectations reasonable because the PACMate is a PDA, not a laptop. So only > these few BrailleNote users seem to be misinformed about the PM, and not the > PM users themselves, and I doubt if FS will purposefully tell BrailleNote > users that the PM is a laptop and then once they buy it, will inform them > it's a PDA. Please, do your research before making claims and forming a > flimsy defense of the BrailleNote. > Now those on the PM list who are reminded that the PACMate is not a laptop > are those who expect something that requires a laptop's memory size or speed. > I want to comment on this now. If some of these folks complain about the > memory on the PM, which has about 96 MB or more compared to the BrailleNote's > 48 or 16 MB, and its speed where the PM uses a 400 MHZ X-scale processor > compared to the three times slower 133 MHZ processor used by the BrailleNote, > then what will they say about the BN? But that's not the important point I > want to make. The more important question is why has PDI not done anything > about this, despite the posts here about sluggishness and limited memory and > their related problems? What is PDI waiting for? The chance to steal Freedom > Scientific's customers who want more speed and memory and don't really care > about the graphical user interface? > Speaking of GUI, I find it ridiculous that PDI continues to use this > philosophy as the selling point--or more appropriately, the remaining saving > grace--of the BrailleNote. I have been subscribed to the PACMate list for > some months now and I have not seen any significant number of posts > complaining about the graphical user interface like radio buttons and such. > The longest debate on the PM list, I think, has been with the carrying case. > Believe me, if my problems and concerns about the BrailleNote are as puny as > the wish for a better carrying case--and some PACMate users bought a > messenger bag that suits them well--then I'm sure this list will be quieter > and will not find repeats of the same questions and problems over and over > again. > Anyway, I think that GUI is something that should not be shunned but dealt > with, and the BrailleNote has done a bit of that with KeyWeb. Web pages will > inevitably have radio buttons and check boxes, but was KeyWeb designed to > ignore them? No, we have display indicators for them and the only difference > with speech is that when the cursor is moved to a radio button or check box, > the name of the page element is not announced but just its > state--check/unchecked, pressed/unpressed. Frankly, even if speech calls > them properly as radio buttons and check boxes, I doubt if users here will > find them any more confusing than the display indicators. > I have seen about 7 former BrailleNote users who are actively posting now > to the PM list because they switched to the PACMate and say they do not > regret their decision. These are the skilled BN users I used to see on this > list. There are more who have been asking questions because they have been > thinking of switching to the PACMate. On the other hand, I have not seen > anyone who used a PACMate--not only tried it and found it too sophisticated > for his IQ, but really experienced using it like an average user--who had > posted to this list saying he wants to switch to the BrailleNote. If ever > there had been a couple of people who said they've played with a PACMate for > a short while when they were deciding on which product to buy, they said they > settled for the BrailleNote because it's less complicated. But I notice that > the same people had questions about the basic functions of the BrailleNote > that they could have understood from the manual. > This leads me to think, maybe the BrailleNote was the right choice for > them not because of what the BN offers but because of how much--or > little--they can grasp. That does not improve the image of the BrailleNote. > It implies that this technology will soon be for people with simple computer > needs, with very little or no computer skills prior to owning the > BrailleNote, or for those who are intimidated by graphical user interface > because someone who is good with computers said they will find it difficult > to learn. > Notice also that the suggestions made recently for future upgrades--MSN > messenger, audio-streaming, file operations executed while on a file list > like the directory option in the BrailleNote's File Manager--are already > available on the PACMate. All that on a PDA for the blind, not a laptop, so > what's wrong with expecting to have these on the BrailleNote? One more thing > I cannot help noticing is that FS comes out with upgrades--both software and > hardware--more frequently than PDI does during the same period of time. Is > it because FS has a bigger team working on the PM? Or is it because scripting > JAWS to work with PPC applications--which some PM users do and share the > scripts for free--aside from the Microsoft SDK that is also available to > them--makes it a lot easier to upgrade the product than fiddling with KeySoft > which, contrary to what someone posted, does not work as well as PPC with > Windows CE? In order to work well with something, the important word to > consider is > "with". KeySoft works on Windows CE, but because the user is limited to > KeySoft, then it is not so accurate to claim that it works well with Windows > CE. > Why did I write at the start of this message that I'm posting it "in > support" of a better understanding about the BrailleNote, and not merely to > compare the BrailleNote with the PACMate? In my opinion, PDI should not allow > BrailleNote users like those I have seen posting to think that the > BrailleNote does not have a lot of catching up to do, and at the same time, > the users should not let PDI think that we agree with what they're saying and > give them an excuse for not upgrading the BN fast enough to catch up with the > PACMate. Imagine that, version 5.1 gave us a new planner, but not an > improved email system and web browser which have more problems with greater > urgency. I can use a Perkins Brailler and an alarm clock for my > appointments, and endure the inconvenience of using primitive technology, but > what happens to the BrailleNote user who does not have his own computer but > needs to do banking transactions online which he cannot do now because the > website requires IE ve! rs > ion 5 or higher? Borrow a computer and risk revealing to the computer's owner > your banking information? > PM users asked for internal flash memory and they recently got it without > having to wait for years. BN users are having connectivity issues because > schools, for instance, are turning to wireless and fewer devices have serial > and parallel ports but make use of USB or Bluetooth technology, and every > time we request solutions from PDI, we get only an assurance that these will > soon come, but how soon may take more than two years. People who have > expressed their preference for PM units with integrated Braille displays got > that late last year with the newer models--not to mention that the display is > detachable so you can carry just that with you and use it with a computer > running JAWS or buy a PM without it first and just pay later for the > display--and yet the PACMate was released late 2002. BN users ask for more > processor speed, and so what if we had to pay for a hardware upgrade, that's > our choice, but the best we can hope is to have upgrades and fixes to already > existing > software applications that run poorly or sluggishly like the new planner > taking the place of the old and less efficient one. We are moving too slow > like the download of messages in KeyMail or the loading of a web page, and > the competition is progressing in leaps and bounds like the use of ActiveSync > with the PACMate that takes 2 to 3 minutes to synchronize hundreds of > appointments, tasks, emails and files, and PM users complain when it takes > them 6 to 12 minutes sometimes--unlike the BrailleNote which takes longer and > can sync less, even choking on large files because they are stored in the > limited space of the KeySoft Systems Disk. > I congratulate the listers who have demanded and continue to request for > improved features, and have not bought the sales talk about the BN being > better because it does not use GUI, nor expressed satisfaction with what the > BN offers because they think asking for more is turning it into a laptop. I > urge PDI to stop telling us what makes the BrailleNote still superior over > the PACMate because that does not take away the sinking feeling that the > BrailleNote, our BrailleNote, is being flushed down the toilet of > technological advancement. Just pick up your pace in improving your product > and accept that there is a lot of catching up to do. You do not need to sit > around and wait for more posts on future upgrades, we have seen and written > so much already that you have not proven to us that you can deliver at a > satisfactory rate. Users have done enough talking and rehashing of > suggestions, now it's PDI's turn to respond, not just mere assurances from > the product manager, but! r > eal good news like, "Users can expect a working relationship between KeyMail > and KeyWeb that will both work faster, more functions on a directory list in > the File Manager, and more useful calculator functions in the next upgrade to > be released this year", or "We will have a hardware upgrade available during > the first quarter of 2005 which will address issues about connectivity via > USB, wireless support, a faster processor and a newer version of Windows CE". > These are just examples, the real thing will depend on PDI's resources. Of > course, I trust that PDI knows it is good business practice to be able to > deliver within the projected time frame, or at least a little after that but > not in six months like version 5.0. > I expect people to react, telling me that I should shut up and get a > PACMate. Don't push me, I'm near the edge already. But not everyone will > have the option or funds to switch to the PACMate when they had to go through > so much to get a BrailleNote. That's why PDI has to respond more > impressively and efficiently--and very soon. >Sincerely, >Kirstyn >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
