Hi Mike, You misunderstand me. I don't hate the corporate market. I have some very serious issues with it. I also recognize that while the corporate model is a spectacular way to make money, it isn't the only successful business model anymore. Open source models such as nvda, braillety, talkback, orca, and vinux sometimes make money for their developers where those developers are concerned with making money out of their projects. universal access models such as apples voiceover line and the panasonic viera tv's distribute the cost of access over the entire user base and make it a part of standard off the shelf products.
When I see governments, schools, corporations, and other organizations buying expensive systems, regardless of their efficacy for the task they are purchased for… When I see high cost tools falling years behind the curve and open source tools staying abreast… When I see the market for the high end corporate systems that these products are based on dwindling year after year… It's harder and harder to tell myself that free capitalism generates vision and quality. Less and less do I believe that to be true. The evidence against it is mounting. That's not what's at issue though. It was put to me that no one would buy acapela voices from gw micro because they are too expensive, and yet in the past couple of hours, no less than three people have stated that they would pay. My feeling is, if gw micro can make a profit selling synthesizers from every digital speech company known to man, then they should go right ahead, since the market supports it, despite a few people bitching about paying for extra synths. If they can sell Vocalizer, then why not Acapela, cepstril, ivona, and any other engine they can dll into window eyes so that it performs in a stable manner? That's business. Some say no one will pay? Yet three people have said they would pay. I wouldn't, because I don't need human sounding speech for my window-eyes, but if I were reading ebooks with window-eyes I would definitely buy ifona and acapela voices for it. I'd probably buy a lot of them actually. I've got 4 or 5 different speech engines on my droid for pete's sake. That's the corporate model. In this case, I'm saying use it to advantage, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. Best, Erik Burggraaf Introducing Ebony Consulting business card transcription service, starting at $0.45 per card or $35 per hundred cards. Ebony Consulting toll-free: 1-888-255-5194 or on the web at http://www.erik-burggraaf.com On 2012-12-10, at 7:17 PM, Mike Pietruk <[email protected]> wrote: > Erik > > The main reason you have a great screen reader such as Window-Eyes is that > "free capitalistic" market so many of you seem to hate. > Quality products only exist thanks to that competitive market where risk > are rewarded and winners and losers are determined. > Sellers need incentives to sell, develop, market and all the rest. > Take away that potential profit and you will quickly see better and better > products stop coming on stream. > > No one likes paying, but on the other hand, be glad that there are > products out there worth paying for. > > > > > In his heart a man plans his course, > but the Lord determines his steps. > Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) > > Many are the plans in a man’s heart, > but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. > Proverbs 19:21 NIV) > > > > > > If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender > only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is > related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to > [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. > > GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can > manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
