I think it is more than just an implication that Microsoft has been and continues to be insensitive -- in fact, outright hostile -- to our needs as a community of people who want the same quality of life that everyone who depends on good vision simply takes for granted. Just look at their release of the Windows VII phone last year. They simply said, unapologetically, that it would not be accessible when it was released. And, this has certainly not been the first or the only Microsoft product that ignored our collective need for accessibility.
I believe that it was the threat of litigation concerning the inaccessibility of early IPODs that prompted Apple to see the proverbial light, and maybe that is, in some small measure, a mark against them, but their out-of-the-box accessibility and the passionate approval it has engendered among people who are blind should provide a wake-up call to everyone who produces technology and creates web sites. People who are blind have just as much right to access as everyone else, and it can happen if corporations and manufacturers decide to do it. Penny On 1/23/13, Bill Gallik <wfgal...@charter.net> wrote: > Please pardon me for this somewhat off topic message, but I do feel > obligated to clear the air just a wee bit on a subtle matter that has come > up in the original thread. > > Now first, let me say that I also am extremely pleased with my iPhone 5 and > > the embedded accessibility. And likewise; major, major KUDOS to Apple for > having the (dare I say) foresight to design that accessibility right into > their products. Certainly, Apple is to be commended for the effort to > provide devices that customers can use right out of the box without > incurring additional, prohibitive expense. > > But I have to point out that Microsoft at one point had mulled around the > idea of providing at least an embedded screen reader in the Windows OS; I'm > > sure there are more than a few others on this list that will remember this. > > The company had approached both NFB and ACB with feelers to get an idea how > > that would be received by the blind and visually impaired community. The > result of that inquiry caused Microsoft to drop the idea. I must confess my > > guilt here as I replied with a resounding "NO" to this idea -- I regret to > say now. Why I (and many others I presume) replied that way is not germane > > to this list, but I think we should be careful not to imply that Microsoft > has been insensitive to our circumstances. Just for the record. > ---------------- > Holland's Man, Bill > - "A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running." > - Julius Henry (Groucho) Marx, 1890 - 1977 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
