'Fairly' being the operative word in this instance. The weakness of many of
these notetaker chappies is that they concentrate far too much on poker and
not enough on printers; far too much on whist and not enough on
wordprocessing. The point I am making is that although one could be
critical of Humanware for operating a closed environment, there's still
nothing better to take into the High Court or the Conservative Party
Conference than a BrailleNote Apex. Many professionals like myself simply
don't want two or more devices, however convenient bluetooth is, and being
an IProdder is not really a substitute for the convenience of a traditional
notetaker. Some of these other players in the market have spent far too
much time on games and messenger and not enough on the basics.
Additionally, for all the chat about Braille literacy, Humanware is the only
company that in my experience understands Braille literacy properly. In a
nutshell, we are not all from the United States. children in the UK, and
those who have recently lost their sight, need to have the same Braille
appear on their Braille displays as appears in their books. Others, like
me, just like it that way and it appeals to our patriotic sensibilities as
well as our reading and writing comfort. If it's a choice between open
source and UK Braille, I'll take UK Braille every time.
Don't get me wrong - it would be jolly good form if Humanware were to
release the SDK so that public-spirited lads and lasses could let their
imaginations run wild with all sorts of programs for it. However, for as
long as the other companies fail to appreciate that being a professional is
not just about being able to send an email while on a Boris Bike, and for as
long as it's more about playing music than printing on the go, the
traditional notetaker won't be supplanted.
Best,
Mark Higgins (a proud IProdder and BrailleNote User)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sabahattin Gucukoglu" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 12:11 PM
Subject: [me-mates] Hmm. Another note-taking development.
http://braillewizard.org/
In such confined spaces as these, open is good. Humanware's greatest
weakness was to stay closed, under the delusion of secrecy. It'll be
their downfall if they aren't careful. And it's not as if iPhone or
iPod, especially with a bluetooth braille display, doesn't make for a
fairly attractive option.
