Hello,
Microsoft doesn't make any of its software accessible for the blind in
Windows either. They rely on screen reader companies to do that.
This goes back to my earlier comment regarding Narrater. It was
suppose to be for accessibility, but we all know where that has gone.
Dan
On Jan 17, 2008, at 8:29 AM, Dan Eickmeier wrote:
Simon
, I totally agree with you and everybody else on this one. Don't
know why Microsoft won't make their products accessible for us
macusers. If they're not going to do that, than why even have a mac
version of this suite of applications? I think we allshould try to
contact somebody in the microsoft organization. On 17-Jan-08, at
10:14 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Greg and the Listers,
I entirely agree with Greg's words. It is a shame for Microsoft to
have produced a flagship version of its main suite ignoring
accessibility for visually impaired people and print impaired
people in the presence of the fact that Microsoft must be aware of
its obligations with regard to accessibility as outlined above. I
should imagine that it is against the ADA law and the Disability
Discrimination Act, 1995, in the UK. It would require though a
major representatives of business to take Microsoft to book on
account of this omission. The fact is that Microsoft must have
known that Mac OS platform is already accessible to blind and print
impaired people and to ignore this warrants an uproar.
Let us all protest in whatever ways we are able to.
With best wishes
Simon Cavendish
On 17 Jan 2008, at 14:26, Greg Kearney wrote:
According to Microsoft this morning Microsoft Office 08 is not
accessible to the blind or print disabled using VoiceOver. So
don't bother going out and buying it. I will now editorialize:
At some point someone is going to start raising the issue of
consumer products, in this case Microsoft Office, not being
accessible and if producing such products is actionable under the
Americans with Disabilities Act. That aside what in the world is
Microsoft thinking? This was a product that was delayed because
the code was changed to Xcode and here we have a major
productivity application that is not accessible? Microsoft should
be ashamed of itself and I for one would like to have someone from
Microsoft offer some kind of explanation for this oversight.
It is one thing for some small company with limited resources to
not have an accessible application it is inexcusable for a company
the size of Microsoft to re-write a major application like office
and not have it be accessible. If Xcode would not compile non-
accessible application we might have avoided this. It is
interesting to note that the only accessible spreadsheet for the
Mac, Tables, is the work of a lone programer who managed to do it
with out the resources of a Microsoft or Apple.
On a related note developer at Sun have been asking questions
about accessibility on a developer list at Apple so perhaps there
is hope that Sun will be developing an accessible version of Open
Office. Let's hope so anyway. And let's hope that someone at Apple
is able to get and explanation from Microsoft as to why an
application written after VoiceOver's release is not able to be
used by the blind and print disabled. And Apple your not off the
hook here either Pages and Numbers are not accessible either I
might add.
Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
