At 09:44 AM 3/26/99 -0500, you wrote:
yes ken history does bear watching.
though i do not think all of jfw history is all so great.
first i never got 4.01 to work right, but i do realize i was in the minority.
that minority was of pretty good size though.
still like you i was glad that jfw allowed access to win 98 and i e 4.01 when
it was released.
though my other screen reader also supported 98 and i e 4.01 at the time 98
was released.
i have to admit it was not as good as jfw in that area.
though in the braille department it was better, because it was grade 2 braille.
and had been since their 95 release.
still many people in my opinion act as though the web is everything.
while it is great to be able to read all kinds of stuff and while 4.01 was a
improvement, its access did not ensure that one could easily read all difficult
pages.
nor does the competition.
for the most part a person is still better off sticking to text based layout.
if they are blind.
that is if they want the fastest access to information.
much of the rest about the browser is hype.
what actual percentage of extra info can a person really access as a result of
jfw and 4, versus jfw and 3 say?
now for some other jfw history, for 2 years now artic has been able to read
the
control plus alt plus delete menu.
this allows access to the end task menu.
while others say that their is other places where all the features can be
disabled, this is far from true.
my experience is about half can be deleted their.
and only the end task menu makes this super fast.
well this menu is been in the operateing system since 95.
all the competition can read it.
but jfw still can not read a major part of the core of the operating system.
i would much rather have this than all the improvements done in i e 4 put
together.
reason being is that would assist the user in haveing a much more stable
system.
if people temporarily remove aps in background during a install, they are way
less likely to have trouble with a install.
yes it is not so glitzie as i e features.
only importan to haveing a stable operating system.
if jfw delivers on this i will be surprised.
but also very happy.
another fact about jfw history.
they sold access 32 with the idea that it would work with other screen
readers, well it does not.
but that was only one way in which they screwed us with access 32.
the second way was that a free screen reader installed from cd rom, access 32
did not.
so access 32 users had to carry around a extra disk or use the free be.
all i want is access 32 to have the same install as eloquence.
better yet if it was up to me leave eloquence off my disk all together.
its way to buggy.
yes i realize the upgrade is much better and yes it is best to have a backup
with software synths.
now here is a kicker, does anybody have any idea how access 32 will even work
with jfw 3.3.
what i mean is that with access 32 not being part of the install, i am really
wondering what percentage of betesters are even using access 32 for the beta
test.
probley not as many as eloquence.
of course some may argue that is digitals problem.
of course with the way hj promoted access 32 i do think they owe those users a
version that functions correctly.
pretty much the same way they owe their hardware accent user base the same
support.
which they do deliver on by makeing the s a function with n t.
because that is what they heavily promoted as the best combo.
at that time.
i have read the web page and do realize that hj is adding some pretty cool
glitzie features, that will make life a little easier for jfw users.
and i e 5 with
alt plus left arrow keystroke alone is a major time saver.
not saying that jfw is not my pick as best, only saying from your view point
one might think it is everything one might want.
while the reality is jfw is not always first out the gate.
nor do they always deliver when it comes to critical components like the end
task menu.
bill cameron
p s i hope that access 32 will work as well with jfw 3.3 as eloquence does, or
i will feel screwed again.
if hj would take only one lesson home with access 32, it should be that you
should not screw your user base just because you got their money.
>Hello All -
>
>I read with some amusement the recent comparison of JFW's and Window Eyes'
>access to Internet Explorer 4.01 and 5. The gist of this comparison was
>that Window Eyes had moved ahead of JFW in this area now that Microsoft has
>finally released a correctly-functioning version of MSAA. In considering
>these comments, it is worth remembering some very important recent history.
> We all know that Microsoft completely bungled the version of MSAA which
>was supposed to give blind users access to IE 4 when it was released in the
>fall of 1997. This meant that it was completely impossible for any screen
>reader company to make IE 4 work by relying on MSAA. Thus, blind users
>were potentially locked out of using these products until MSAA was fixed.
>Many of us found this to be an intolerable situation, and Henter-Joyce took
>the aggressive approach that, while it's fine to use the tools supplied by
>Microsoft when they work properly, it is not acceptable to pin all of your
>hopes on Microsoft's capabilities and wait around while they fix things on
>their own schedule. HJ decided to make IE 4 work immediately, and they did
>it by innovative programming techniques that enabled JFW to work with IE 4
>without relying on MSAA. Because of this, users of JFW have had excellent
>access to IE4 for the better part of a year while users of other screen
>readers have had to content themselves with earlier versions of Internet
>Explorer. Meanwhile the rest of the world moved ahead. By acting
>forcefully and quickly, HJ made its users part of that community which was
>moving ahead.
>
>That last point was so important that I want to recapitulate. HJ refused
>to accept the fact that access was not possible because MSAA was defective,
>and they quickly developed a work around for the problem. I think this
>tells us something very, very important. Whenever humanly possible, HJ
>will do what it can do and what it must do to make sure its customers get
>access, and if that includes creating its own access methodology, so be it.
>
>Okay, so now MSAA works, and it is possible to make even further
>improvements to IE access. Does anyone seriously think HJ will sit around
>and not add new features and capabilities to its Internet Explorer access?
>Anyone who does think so doesn't know HJ very well. JFW got to be the
>number one screen reader by providing the best level of access to a
>tremendous variety of applications, and Internet Explorer is just one of
>them. The total package of accessibility is what levels the playing field
>between blind and sighted users, and it is this superior access to all
>venues which makes JFW the screen reader of choice and which makes blind
>users employable in this computer-driven job market. I think you can
>expect HJ to take a good, hard look at what can now be done with Internet
>Explorer with the combined capabilities of the proprietary access
>techniques it has developed and the MSAA system which finally works. When
>the smoke clears and HJ does give us even more advanced access to Internet
>Explorer, I expect we will find that access to be the most advanced and
>flexible available. And if that does not happen tomorrow or next week but
>takes a little longer, remember that HJ is very busy working on the many,
>many fronts of access that give blind users access to as many applications
>as possible, applications that they use at home and at work. That's why
>JFW users have access to, among many other things, Windows NT and excellent
>Braille support, why they have had this access for quite a while, and why
>they are about to have access to grade 2 Braille support in the forthcoming
>3.3 release. So just be patient a little while longer.
>
>And, finally, remember something else. The next time Microsoft or any
>other company tries to leave the blind users in the dirt by not paying
>proper attention to the access parts of their products, JFW users will have
>the best shot at being up and running the soonest, because HJ won't wait
>around until a broken product is fixed. HJ will do everything possible to
>make it work today and to make it work because you need it as soon as
>possible.
>Best regards,
>Ken
>E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Please visit my store's home page at http://www.audionexus.com
>-
>Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
-
Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
