Hello all When Microsoft came up with its Windows, the access technology providers looked at it with much scepticism. It was based on graphics and the screen readers were helpless on it. It was also the time when Object oriented programme paradign was taking roots. dBase 5 andFoxpro introduced UI's like listbox, command buttons etc. They were not accessable even on DOS. I didn't use those controls in my programmes, but time was passing and something needed to be done. I did read up on this new beast, but the concepts seemed all confusing. A few screen readers came up and I got the demo versions. I could not evaluate them, as they all required a hardware synthesizer. Dolphin systems too came out with their Windows screen reader. However they did not support their mimic synthesizer. They insisted I pick the Appollo synthesizer. I found it an unfair practise and I kept insisting they also support Mimic. Finally they wrote to me sayingMimic was on simplex communication and on Windows they required duplex communication. I knew this was simply nonsense talk and I did not see any rational persuing it. Sometime later on, Creative technology came up with a software synthesizer called Text Assist. This would work only with their sound card. Mine was a different one and hence I had to buy it. I guess, SAPI came along with Win 95. I had a few screen readers installed all on demo mode. I managed to use my Mimic synthesizer on Wineyes which its own manufacturers declared as impossible. The only thing I could not do on it was to make it shut up. I had to turn off the synthesizer to flush the buffer. I would launch another screen reader when the demo time got expired. This way I extended the restart frequency of the system.
Of all the screen readers I found Wineyes, Winbridge and Jaws far better than the rests. All these 3 had some unique strengths. Wineyes gave the users the same look and feel of a windows application as was presented to able bodied. Winbridge gave better information on the user interface controls and Jaws gave the ease of use. The Wineyes manuals particularly helped me clear up the haziness of Windows user interfaces. Sometime down, I got a one month evaluation copy of a screen reader. I froze the system date and happily used it for quite sometime. I was relieved from the drudgery of frequent re boots. It was very difficult managing the usability of screen readers with each major version change of Windows. Using OCR was a very novel and excitting concept. I had seen it first time with Prof. M.P. Srinivasan. For one thing it required use of Windows, which then was a big pain and secondly the hand held scanner had to be moved in a constant speed, the scanner was just about 2 to 3 inchesand it would only capture image of that width. The line beneath had to be properly sincronised. Finally there was a long training process to be undertaken. I kept postponing buying one untilI came across a Umax flat bed scanner. I agreed to buy it with a condition that the application ought to be compatible with the screen reader. It took some time playing with its configurations. Finally I succeeded on defining a hot key, on clicking it, In one click, it would scan, do the OCR and open the resultant text file in Notepad. This was a fantastic break throughIt was so envigurating to read newspapers, books and periodicals all by myself. Later on I tried outOmnipage and Text bridge which gave far better results.I did evaluate open book, but did not use it much. Using Kurzweil was simply great. In web browsing, the early browser I used on windows was IE3. This was very comfortable browser. Then came IE4 and all of a sudden internet Explorer became totally inaccessable. There was a lot of hue and cry amongst technology users and advocy groups. Microsoft hurriedly came up with version 4.1 and along with it the crazy virtual buffer paradign, which, the burden it is still carrying. In late 90's some folks found on the net tools to copy the authorisation floppies of screen readers. They made it available to blind users for a consideration. This made it possible for a large number of blind users to use the screen readers, which was beyond the means of most otherwise. One major screen reader vendor came out with a package on which the screen reader was preinstalled. This package which was attractive came in rather too late. Another offering with features downgraded for a lower cost, too, did not find it attractive to the users. NAB Delhi came up with a novel plan of providing access technology at nominal interest rate. This was a big success with a good number of blind users owning their wares. This model sadly, was not replicated in other places. Saksham's effort to make available screen reader on cellphones too was a noteable success. They did manage to bring numbers to bargain for a better price. Development of indegenous screen reader was a mixed bag. There were promising startup's but as of date the use of them is not popular. I closely worked with 2 such initiatives. I did evaluate both the live CD's of Linux and the installed version of it. Although the screen reader is a good alternative to the Windows cousin, it is yet to take of as an alternative to it. I have attempted to cover these details with an intention of recording in history on the developments as I saw things happening arround me. I tried to highlight on the major landmarks and the moods, high and low points. With this I sign off on this interesting series which took me down the memory lane. Warmly Harish. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
