I've been thinking more about this other language synthesizers issue. I wonder how hard it would be for apple to include by default the voices that it uses for the iPhone on the installation CD of its operating system. That way, a blind person could manage bios and system installation in multiple languages no problem. And they would be low quality voices right? So they wouldn't take that much extra space. Then there could be some way by which we only put certain languages on the hard drive through installation. So maybe, if I install my OS in Spanish, the CD will automatically only install the Spanish synthesizers. Or maybe, it could install all synthesizers by default. This would be nice for public computers, but if individuals wanted the extra space, they could opt to not install those synthesizers as they would opt to not install the extra language localizations.
Maybe I might offer another perspective on this. On no screen reader has there been offered a high quality voice like Alex. In a way, apple are already stomping on the shoes of Acapela Group slightly by offering an american synthesizer which far out does anything their american voices could dish out. I think that standing behind apple in not including other language synthesizers in Mac OS X because of fear of hurting Acapela is a silly notion as it places the interests of business before the consumer, but let's discuss that anyway since it is a concern. Usually the place of a company like Acapela would be supplying high quality speech synthesis, which it does very well, and the place of the company that produces the screen reader would be to just provide synthesis. Freedom scientific have offered foreign language with eloquence for a number of years now at no extra cost, and of course the same goes for all screen readers using ESpeak. The idea is that you get to listen to stuff read in the language of your choice, though it might not be the highest of quality. If you want high quality, you go to a company like Assistive Wear and buy the high quality Acapela voices. In a way, I would almost say that apple would have done better to have implemented the iPhone synthesis along side Fred and the other English voices, in stead of producing Alex, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is that Apple is a company which, by its actions, seems to aim to serve an international customer base. It has been possible for many years for a person in France, Germany, or Japan or where ever else to install and use the Mac OS in their native language. I think that Apple has demonstrated that it understands very well the importance of including a world market in its computer revolution. In 2005, they demonstrated that they also understood the importance of including people who use their computers by alternative means. I remember an article from Apple to the developers a few years back, which characterized the last 20 years in these terms… in the 90s we were working on internationalizing computers so that people of different nationalities could use them, then came the new millennium where the new challenge has been working on making computers usable by people of different physical/sensory ability. One of the first things I noticed about my iPhone is that the accessibility menu is just down from international. It seems like then, apple understand accessibility and international as two facets of a single goal, to make their computers usable by as many people as possible. They should understand that accessibility and international are practically the same thing because there are people with disabilities all over the world, not just in the United States. So yes, apple surely understand this, then there must be some reason as was already suggested for why they insist on not implementing foreign language synthesizers. In conclusion, I think it would be nice that they should include low quality foreign language synthesis in their OS, or if not that, at least they should give us a straight forward explanation of why they refuse to do so. At least this way, myself and others needn't be left so dumbfounded at the fact that they would include such clever integration of foreign speech synthesis and localization in their iPhone, and not in their computers. It really just doesn't make since. Regards Justin Harford On Aug 25, 2009, at 10:50 AM, Scott Howell wrote: > > I think those voices were included for other reasons and happen to > work with VO. Of course Bells for example serves no purpose for users > really, but I suspect they are again there for other purposes. Of > course you could always suggest to Apple they remove those voices if > no one really has a use for them and replace with other voices, which > support other languages. > On Aug 25, 2009, at 10:16 AM, william lomas wrote: > >> >> hi all I know bad news, bells etc. are commical voices but aren't >> they a waste of space in the OS, really? >> Thoughts? >> Will > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
