I think it's too easy for everyone to look for a quick answer, making
it so convenient to come down on a particular user. I have a very
powerful machine, not assembled by any brand name, a very clean fresh
install of Windows 7 Pro and I have certainly had my issues with
Window-eyes. Right now I'm running with apps turned off and I'm
enjoying it so much that I can't bring myself to turn them back on
yet. But just as important as which brand or flavor of the day
machine we have is what we're doing on it. Some of us run one program
at a time. Some of us have a zillion different things open at once.
Some of us only have a couple of things that load on startup and
appear in our system tray while some of us have never even heard of
MS-config. Even in any installation of Windows, there's a huge
variety in which services may be turned on, which features are
enabled, etc. We all need different environments and a screen reader
should be designed to allow us to work as we choose or need. I don't
think we should blame the user who buys an expensive powerful
machine, expecting to handle a heavy work load to strip it down just
so the screen reader will behave. It's certainly possible that there
are certain combinations of applications or programs that cause
Window-eyes to tangle, thanks to all the ridiculous complexities
introduced in Windows 7. But it's not the fault of the person who
wants to run those programs. If you're not having any problems, it
could be that you just managed to hit the right combination of stuff.
I know that as I type this message in Eudora, periodically key echo
just stops and I have to wait a minute or so for Window-eyes to catch
up. Then I can continue writing again. I have no idea why and I know
that Eudora isn't the latest thing out there. But I do know that were
I sighted, using this program, there would be no interruption. So
whatever it is, Window-eyes is involved in the mix in some way. I
know that some of the problems are related to mirror drivers somehow.
All of us using Windows 7 have to live with this one, regardless of
brand of machine or programs we run. I know there are things that
tangle all of the screen readers and there are things that seem to
get only Window-eyes. I don't know the programming down in the depths
but obviously this points to differences in how different
applications interact with Windows and each other.
I just wish I hadn't had to spend so much time trouble-shooting,
recovering from installation goofs around apps, and the like. If I
know I'm running a beta, fine. I expect things to happen which I
report. What would really help is perhaps to include a list of known
issues in the release notes so that we wouldn't each have to make the
discoveries ourselves, using up a lot of time. The more communication
available, the easier it is to get through messy stuff. For instance,
if there had been a note saying something like, Eudora will run under
Windows 7 but the graphic labels will not read and you may
experience, and so on and so forth, then I wouldn't have been
surprised when I tried to use the program, trying to fix the graphics, etc.
I've been around enough to know that no software is perfect and every
piece of software does something that just drives me up the wall. But
in the overall picture, there is a threshhold of the level of
difficulty with any program that moves it from the great category to
that of interfering with good functionality and the clues to where it
stands are important. I can say that for me, the way I work, there
are things that happened in 7.5.1 that no longer happen now. There
are things that never got me before that get me now. And as I've
said, I'm actually enjoying Internet Explorer now because I don't
crash every time I open a new tab. There are some apps I kind of miss
but for now I am just enjoying not thinking about my screen reader that much.
And who knows! Maybe Santa will bring us an update! <laughing!>
I do appreciate the contact we have with support staff. They've
gotten me out of several tangles over the past two months. And I
assume that when they hear several of us say that it seems that
Window-eyes is less stable since all these apps have come into
existence, that someone in there is looking at why this might be
happening. So in the end, even the somewhat negative and frustrating
messages are valuable because something important could get fixed.
So, come on Santa! And thanks to the elves who are listening!
Veronica
We Woof You A Merry Christmas! Diabetes Melodious! And more!
Music CDs that will impact and entertain you forever!
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
Santa Cruz, California
877-607-6407
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