Hello Mr. Prater:
I came to GW Micro back in 1992 early 1993 by way of Vocal-Eyes. No, I'm
NOT AN EMPLOYEE, but when I got my first computer that I thought would HOLD
THE ENTIRE WORLD in its hard drive, Vocal-Eyes was there. Eventually, I
migrated to Window-Eyes!
Speaking specifically for myself, this screen reader HAS KEPT ME reasonably
gainfully employed to be somewhat politically correct from a terminology
perspective.
I own and operate a retail storefront specializing in durable and home
medical equipment and supplies. I also do money transfers all over the
world via Moneygram. Working with GW Micro through Mr. Marc Solomon and his
support staff, the money transfer software program that I HAD NOT BEEN ABLE
to use for the past two years SUDDENLY CAME TO LIFE and I can use it to run
a money transfer transaction without sighted assistance. Granted some
screens still DON'T READ well, with the help of Mr. Solomon, and a chat with
Moneygram Tech Support, we were able to discover that the DeltaWorks
software I use at work WAS BADLY WRITTEN from the beginning. We're still
working hard to encourage Moneygram to LABEL THE VARIOUS FIELDS which, if
the company agrees to do, will enable me to have in my hands an accessible
software that I can use independently like all other Moneygram agents across
the United States! I seriously doubt whether Freedom Scientific WILL SPEND
all that time with me on the phone in the struggle to work out the
accessibility tweaks in the software I use in my work daily. Since the
tweak by Mr. Solomon, I have INDEPENDENTLY succeeded in remitting for a
customer over $2,000 in money transfer transactions.
I also LOG INTO a state provided web portal for purposes of submitting
Medicaid claims for adjudication and payment. I tried this site on a
friend's computer with every incarnation of Jaws I could find. No, it would
NOT read any of the screensw and I was unable to enter data into the
appropriate fields. I turned offr Jaws, launched Window-Eyes and, voilá,
there I was entering the relevant data independently with NO SIGHTED
ASSISTANCE.
Presently, the current incarnation of Window-Eyes may be posing
disappointing challenges to us all. However, it should be borne in mind
that Microsoft itself has not played fair! The programs we knew and used
all the time have all been virtually retired and, to be fair, GW Micro
continues to work hard at ensuring that we can gain access to whatever
Microsoft throws at it. Worthy of mention here is Internet Explorer! I
await the day when IE9 and IE10 will be as accessible as Explorers 6, 7 and
8 were in that order. I believe that if we can all convince Microsoft to
play it fair, we will no longer be too disgruntled with Window-Eyes. So,
for me, Window-Eyes still enables me to MAKE A FEW DIMES, pay my angels'
education fees, own and pay for a cell phone, and the list goes on.
As a business owner who works all by himself with BARELY ANY SIGHTED HELP in
my store, I await the day when Window-Eyes will be scripted to work with a
MAINSTREAM accounting program that meets the requirements my business MUST
CONFORM with in order to be in line with federal and state regulations! I
am quite willing to wait my turn underneath these skies and I have reason to
believe that I won't have to wait a day longer than is necessary.
Sincerely,
Olusegun
Denver, Colorado
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.
