To put it in financial terms, besides being a free screenreader, there will
not be upgrade costs for a Windows screen reader so the recipient will not
get further and further behind if they cannot afford the yearly charges for
upgrades.
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
[mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Anne Robertson
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 8:29 AM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: reason to get a mac
Hello Paul,
I would just like to add that for people who use several languages, the Mac
comes with voices and Braille for quite a number of different languages.
Cheers,
Anne
On 1 Sep 2011, at 12:56, Paul Erkens wrote:
Dear list,
I have a question for us mac users. If anyone thinks it is off topic, if
you have an idea where to better ask this, please let me know.
Shortly, I will attend a discussion with one of our national funds that
help blind people buy a computer. If a blind person living in the
Netherlands, really cannot afford a computer themselves, and they can't get
any financial support from any other organisations, there is a fund that
they can call upon, however. It is with these people that I'm going to talk
soon.
Currently, if a blind person gets a computer from this pc fund, then what
you get is a Dell configuration with windows and a screen reader. If you
want anything else, because you think an Apple computer could give you more
possibilities, then you can indeed get financial support if they are going
to honor the request for help of course, but then you will get half of the
money. This puts windows in favor of a mac, because getting haf of the money
means that you still cannot get hold of the other half to make it happen,
and because you do need a computer, it's going to be windows.
This reasoning was understandable, until some 3 years ago. Since then,
Apple has given us many new, innovative and exciting possibilities with a
mac. What I want to achieve is a change in the way they look at this. No
matter if you need a pc or a mac, I would like the fund look at it as being
2 equal solutions, one suited better for a person than the other. Not:
windows always.
What I need from you, is some help in putting together a factual
enumeration of reasons for a mac. Reasons that people can check upon, and
that hold true. I have a number of questions.
1. Which part of the blind community is best helped with a mac?
My current answer: those who are willing and capable of self study. As
with sighted folks, of course this does not include every one. There are
courses being developed, but if you have no users, there is no urgent need
for courses to get to know the mac. And if there are no courses, there's no
urge to buy a mac. So for the moment, the user will have to be willing to
self study.
Please add to this if appropriate.
2. When is a mac preferable?
My current answer: if the user is willing to solve his own problems,.
The mac avoids repair cost. if the user is willing to get himself out of
trouble when something goes really haywire, then a mac will let you do this,
and keep him her independant of sighted help. If you have a current backup,
you can restore your system without help, and even install an os the same
independant way. This avoids sending out staff to the user to go fix their
system problems. Besides, if the hard drive fails, you can still work off of
an external usb drive
until the hardware is fixed. Please add to this, or contradict it.
3. From a user's perspective, Are there any areas where a mac is really
better for an independant blind user?
My current answer: I would say not really. You can get all things done on
both systems, but the mac will give you a smoother experience. Speaking for
myself, if something doesn't work, it is usually me, who doesn't know how to
do it, or something is just plainly inaccessible. You almost never wonder
why the system acts strangely this time, and tomorrow it might act
differently. I need reasons in daily experiences.
4. From the buyer's perspective, in this case the fund paying for the mac
for a blind person, is a mac cheaper than a pc?
My current answer: In the long term yes. Initially, a mac is more
expensive. However, you get the screen reader with it, which outweighs the
problem of cost for a mac. Further more, if the mac gets updated, usually
the screen reader is updated with no further cost. This avoids having to lag
behind, where the os is more modern than your screen reader, and you will
probably have to spend another sum to update that. Please add to this if
appropriate.
5. Unknown makes unwanted. Why do funds, insurance companies etc, stick
with windows, when there could be a better alternative for a particular user
and with respect to price?
These are my questions for now. I'm not an expert. Just an average user,
wanting others to benefit from macs as well as windows pc's, whatever is
best for them. The fund is open to input, and I'd rather not let this
opportunity pass, now that they are listening. I don't want to favor the mac
either. I just want it to become an equal alternative, not suited for
everyone, but complementing the array of choices.
Paul.
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