As i understand it, Windows 8 will be much like Windows 7 in it's
classical view, the new Metro interface will be a shell which goes on
top of this kind of like the Windows Media screen. Windows 8 will be a
transitional change, preparing people for Metro full time in the future,
but for now Windows 7 style isn't gone yet. It would be a nightmare for
developers in general not just GW-Micro to adapt all their software to
such a drastic change. Thus, Metro would only apply to you if you
wanted it to, or if you had a tablet or Mobile phone, Etc. Also,
GW-Micro has been posting a few things to Twitter as follows:
Regarding mirror drivers:
It's a bit more complicated than that. The technology isn't the same.
But we spent time in Redmond with Microsoft to get it working.
And
I should clarify. Mirror drivers are gone, but Microsoft made some
concessions for programs like Window-Eyes to continue working.
Lastly:
They're gone, but they're not gone. From the user standpoint, things
will continue the same. The underlying path is different.
Microsoft is just changing their technology again and GW-Micro just has
to adapt to it.
Lastly there was a tweet a couple days ago from GW-Micro indicating that
they had a new build of Window Eyes was working with that developer
build of Windows 8, although they indicated they still had work to do.
So, I wouldn't worry too much guys. Granted we might not see Window
Eyes running on the new tablet PCs they're planning to release at least
at first but who knows. As for those, Microsoft is supposed to be
beefing up it's Narator considerably to compete most likely with Apple
and their Voiceover, so although it probably won't be as good as Window
Eyes, it does sound like it'll be better than it has been previously.
But hey, only time will tell.
Cory
On 17/09/2011 6:06 AM, erik burggraaf wrote:
Don't kid yourself. The keyboard isn't going away any time soon. :)
Not only has apple not done away with the keyboard for it's touch
screen devices, but they built one specially for those devices and
they charge $90 for it. You'll always have the keyboard option even
when gesture support on windows comes up to speed.
On the other hand, no windows screen reader has done anything to allow
access to multi-touch under windows, nor will they until windows 8 has
been out for quite some time. Although I don't prefer gesturing at my
macbook personally, I know many blind people who do and I consider the
lack of gesture support on windows to be a serious oversight on the
part developers. Not nearly on a par with the ridiculous amount of
time we had to wait for 64 bit support, but pretty bad all the same.
Best,
Erik Burggraaf
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On 2011-09-16, at 9:34 PM, Peter Wolfe wrote:
To all,
I just read a Time Magazine article at time.com <http://time.com>
talking about the
newest version of Windows 8 scheduled for release in like a year. So,
th issue that I have is that it appears from scant research that
Windows 8 will be mimicing Apple on the fingerprinting commands like
Appple's I-Pad model already does. How would this affect screen
readers and is Gw-Micro prepared for this dramatic drastic transition
for us screen readers? If so then will it be like Apple or something
different entirelly? It looks like the keyboard is going to gone
right? Thanks for any opinions into this matter.
thanks,
Peter
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