The trouble with all of this is that one can only stay current for the
moment and the various difficulties that blind people experience with
screen readers are often machine specific.
It has taken me ages to get JFW to work on one machine and it still doesn't
function on another. This is despite its high cost relative to my other
screen reader which works well on both machines which JFW chokes on. JFW
V3.075 worked better for many months than v3.02 - in other words - I had
made a retrograde purchase.
A screen reader which works with one application for the moment may not
work with the upgrade of that application. The Internet Explorer thing is
a good example - I didn't have JFW v3.2 working so Internet Explorer v4
wasn't an option. I have my other screen reader working well with Internet
Explorer v5.2 Beta and I am not sure that I want to mess around with
getting new scripts for JFW which don't yet have HJ support.
The reality for me is that a blind person is always going to struggle if
he/she relies on one screen reader. None of them are perfect and the
screen reader can restrict one's computer access across a wide range of
applications because its developers make choices at the cost of other
activities.
Now: Given a shoddy install, a bug-ridden protection scheme and lousy
support, I consider that JFW is priced too high. Once installed it is a
more than adequate screen reader, but it is not my favourite. I believe HJ
must work harder for the money - because I like the choice of being able to
use two screen readers, I will watch the upgrade path but it is rapidly
getting beyond my ability to pay and that means choosing to discontinue use
of software which cannot keep pace with changes in mainstream applications.
The investment in a screen reader is not just for the first box of disks
and manuals. It is for several upgrades and ongoing support and development.
Vaughan.
At 11:06 PM 1/10/99 , you wrote:
>I see this issue from two perspectives. On the one hand, the sad reality
>is that, due to the high price of access technology in general and the low
>employment rate, there are blind people out there who are just not going to
>be able to take advantage of all the benefits of the information age. On
>the other hand, as someone who has been employed as a medical
>transcriptionist for the past eleven years, I understand the importance of
>having software that is well-supported and can meet the demands of the
>blind employee in the modern job market. Believe me, I have my gripes with
>HJ, particularly the stupid key system, but I also realize that finding
>yourself stuck with inferior screen access software and horrible tech
>support in an employment situation can be at least a nightmare and at worst
>an absolute disaster. Therefore, I personally am willing to pay more for
>software that supports the widest number of applications and is going to
>keep pace with the real world as much as possible. Despite the great
>respect I have for GW-Micro as a company, the fact is that they are now
>just getting around to supporting IE4, which JFW has supported for at least
>the last six months. If we want to remain competitive, we cannot always be
>a year or more behind the rest of the world. With the high development and
>marketing costs, and the small market, I don't see any easy solutions. As
>far as NT is concerned, I have heard that Windows 2000 is going to be very
>much like NT, so perhaps that investment will pay off in the end, and HJ
>will be in a better position to deal with Win2000 when it comes out.
>
>Lynn K. Schneider
>
>
>-
>Visit the jfw ml web page: http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~nallan/jfw
-
Visit the jfw ml web page: http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~nallan/jfw
