Hi Mike GW Micro has, to their credit, offered network admins the ability to use Windows as though it were local for several years. In fact, I think they are probably ahead of Freedom in this area. The concept of Freedom’s licensing policies worries me a little, and I find it very restrictive. I’m not sure whether they restrict the servers you can use, or whether it is just the client which is restricted. But all the same, having the facility readily available in Window-Eyes does hold some appeal for me.
Window-Eyes is very fast actually, when remotely accessing another computer. I tried it once via the Internet, and listened to the actual client system over the phone so that I could get an idea of how fast it was reacting. I was getting the audio feedback on my machine just about half a second, if that, behind that of the actual speakers on the server system itself. Locally, on the same Windows network, it’s like lightning. I have not as yet tried Jaws remote, as I say, because I want to see what their terms are before I invest money into that technology. Freedom do nothing for nothing, that is for sure. They seem to spare no thought at all for the budget of somebody for whom these ventures are personal. All they talk about on their website and in their brochures are “Corporate” this, and “Business” that. Actually, their ILM system is not without its problems as well. One of my laptops is exhibiting a very strange problem. When I start the machine from cold boot, Jaws goes into demo mode, and I’m prompted to update the authorisation. I have to do a warm reboot in order to have it see the fact that the ILM key is there. Warm rebooting solves the issue as I said, but it’s a very odd one. OpenBook 9 is installed on the same system and that does not exhibit the problem. In fact, just changing subject for a moment. OpenBook 9 is, when configured properly, a very accurate OCR system when used with the Pearl camera. I am fortunate enough to own a license for OpenBook, funded by Access To Work for me to use at my place of work. Even text close too, or in-picture text is sometimes recognised correctly if the software is properly configured. I routinely set OpenBook to default with the most accurate “FineReader” engine, rather than the default which is, correct me if I’m wrong, the Nuance Omnipage) engine. ABBYY is way ahead of the game I think and that’s why it is used cross-platform technologies in OpenBook. But one of the things that initially caught my attention when I started using OpenBook was the speed of its recognition function. I also very much like the way it handles workflows and it wasn’t long before I I started creating workflows customised for my own specific situations. I could sit here and write pages and pages about this software, its good and its bad points. But were I to do so, I’d probably exceed the list limits. On another point, I also own a Sara CE, Freedom Scientific’s stand-alone OCR system. I’m quite glad that I didn’t pay for the acquisition of the Sara CE myself, or I would have been feeling very cheated by now. SARA FB is the version with the flatbed scanner, and SARA CE is the Camera Edition, hence the suffix. The SARA technology is actually nothing more than a standard PC running under Windows XP with a custom interface. The actual computer that powers it is based on an AMD Athlon 1.0 GHZ with 512MB of RAM and a 160GB ATA hard drive. My guess is that Freedom’s developers did some kind of deal with a hardware supplier, then they bought a manufacturer’s OEM license for Windows XP which allows them to install it on as many systems as they need. There are actually some subtle differences in the main board configurations. For example, my own unit has not just the two audio output sockets that Freedom advertise, but it also has a complete onboard SoundBlaster Live, with mic in, line in and line out sockets on the rear. It uses a system shared onboard video system, and on the rear panel there are 4 USB inputs, a DVI and VGA monitor connection pair and a socket for a PS2 keyboard. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention the Parallel port. I didn’t find any of those extras mentioned in the system specifications. On the front panel there are also two small 8ø speakers which are actually not bad quality for music. Not hi-fi, of course, but I’ve heard far worse. finally, on top of that, they run their own OpenBook software, customised to work with the hardware they use for their interface, and a modified Pearl camera. They charge around $1,000 USD for that, which I personally think is a horrendous rip-off. They probably picked up the volume supply of motherboards for a couple of bucks each. The hard drives probably cost around the same amount. The software probably works out at about the same, maybe just a bit more, and their own modified version of OpenBook was, of course, all in-house anyway. They spout the same usual excuse, development costs, for the horrendous price of the unit. But that excuse has worn pretty thin by now, to be honest. They must make a terrific profit on every unit they ship. In their defence, yes, it is true to say that the unit does work very well. But essentially all you have is a single task, OpenBook, running under Windows XP. Even on a machine with those specifications, i’d have been amazed if it hadn’t worked seamlessly. Yes, to be totally fair, the SARA CE provides an excellent interface especially for those who have little or no vision and who want something that’s powerful yet easy to use in order to scan mail, read books, etc. Yes, it’s only fair to say it, the SARA has proven an invaluable tool in my own locker when I’m at my place of work. A lot of my job involves Braille transcription work and, in those instances where I cannot find an electronic version of the book I’m working on in the educational library, (to which I have access), to use as source, I rely heavily on OCR solutions to gather my material. Occasionally I use off-the-shelf solutions to scan. But most of the time I use a combination of SARA CE, OpenBook 9 and, very occasionally, a pair of eyes borrowed from one of my colleagues if she happens to be able to spare them. OpenBook and SARA share the same overall operating environment and actually they both run a customised copy of JAWS 11.0 to provide the Braille and speech interface. When you use JAWS as your primary screen-reader, a very clever piece of switching takes place behind the scenes. Jaws automatically detects the OpenBook presence and releases control of the speech API and the Braille display while the OpenBook window has focus. In the case of the Braille display, you do need to be running a Focus or something, one of the Freedom displays at any rate, for the switching to work properly. OpenBook only has direct support for Freedom’s hardware which, I guess, makes sense really. Having used this system for about 9 months now, I’m actually very happy with it. It gets results for me, no doubt about that. But I find Freedom’s licensing policies very ugly, to be honest. For example, if one has a valid license for Jaws on their system, you’d think that maybe the OpenBook mighty be covered as well. But sadly, that isn’t the case. Kindest regards <--- Gordon Smith ---> <[email protected]> Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; Proudly Providing Braille And Alternative Format Transcription Services, Plus I.T Help & Support To The Staff And Students Of the Visually Impaired Department at: Sunnyside Academy Manor Farm Way Colby Newham Middlesbrough Cleveland United Kingdom On 28 Jul 2014, at 13:05, Mike Stopka <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Gordon It makes me wonder if now that Jaws is writing their stuff for home and business if things will change. I know they said as of 16 you were still going to pay for the add-ons but I'm thinking at some point they may go ahead and write it completely and to Josh pro. I'm going to retain my dross Pro and probably pick up an actual paid copy of wind was. I prefer eloquence over the other speech since anyway. So it'll be interesting to see what actually happens. I will be very interested to hear you're out comes with window eyes. I will still probably pick up a copy of window eyes just have one it's always good to have a few cents around I had looked into the dolphin access I've heard they're pretty far behind as well in the accessibility for network Edmonds Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 28, 2014, at 7:29 AM, Gordon Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Mike > > With Window-Eyes version 6 and later, Remote Access via Citrix or Microsoft > Remote Terminal services is built-in, if you own a Professional license to > the product. > > Actually though, as I understand it, Window-Eyes is being given its long > overdue total rewrite, which will obviously be a paid upgrade when it is > released. But finally, it seems, GW Micro has acknowledge the horrendous > latency introduced by Window-Eyes with its huge footprint. If they are now > producing true 64-bit code, I am sure that we will see dramatically improved > responsiveness throughout the entire product, not just with remote sessions. > > But I am about to see whether or not I can install it into my Windows 8.1 > native system, as I only have a full setup of Window-Eyes 8.2 and the current > version, the one being distributed free of charge, is version 8.4. Anybody > who owns a license to Windows 8.1 and/or Microsoft Office 2010 or later > automatically qualifies for a free license to Window-Eyes. I will contact GW > Micro as I am keen to retain my registered serial number if possible. > > Kindest regards > > <--- Gordon Smith ---> > <[email protected]> > > Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; > Proudly Providing Braille And Alternative Format Transcription Services, Plus > I.T Help & Support To The Staff And Students Of the Visually Impaired > Department at: > Sunnyside Academy > Manor Farm Way > Colby Newham > Middlesbrough > Cleveland > United Kingdom > > ============================== > > > > > Telephone: > > United Kingdom: Free Phone: > 0800 8620538 > > United Kingdom Geographic: > 01133 280547 > Mobile: > +44 7907 823971 > > Europe and other non-specified: > +44 1642 688095 > > United States Of America And Canada: > +1 646 9151493 > Or: > +1 209 436 9443 > > Australasia: > +61 38 8205930 > Or: > +61 39 0284505 > > Fax: > +44 1642 365123 > > Follow Us On Twitter: > <http://twitter.com/maciosaccess> > > Skype: > <skype:mac-access-dot-net?call> > > ------------------------------ > > > > > On 26 Jul 2014, at 22:58, Mike Stopka <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Gordon > > I am curious to see what your point of view is if you get when doors to work > do you have to pay extra for the RDP in Citrix access I need to do that with > my jaws as well so I will see what happens I'm going to have the money to > upgrade to and at the features I'm running 15 and I get 16 anyway but will > review my SMEs when I get the chance and by the Adams just have them figured > it would be better for job's point of view anyway > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Jul 26, 2014, at 8:57 AM, Gordon Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi Mike >> >> Were it not for the fact that Window-Eyes 8.2 won’t install under Windows >> 8.1 natively, allowing you to upgrade to 8.4, my problem would be solved. I >> have it installed on my Windows 7 system, but the last time I tried it on >> 8.1 I got a lot of errors. >> >> I’ll give it another go actually, just to be sure. Jaws remote access >> technologies cost £125.00 GBP per license which, presumably, means that you >> can only use it to access similarly licensed servers. Citrix is natively >> slow, Mike, even without a screen-reader. It’s old technology which should >> have been scrapped years ago and re-written. Microsoft Terminal Services do >> not have a large footprint and they are much much faster, allowing you to do >> most or all the things you can do under Citrix, apart from having access to >> Main Frame computers. >> >> I shall go get my 8.2 Window-Eyes CD now and give that a go again. >> >> Kindest regards >> >> <--- Gordon Smith ---> >> <[email protected]> >> >> Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; >> Proudly Providing Braille And Alternative Format Transcription Services, >> Plus I.T Help & Support To The Staff And Students Of the Visually Impaired >> Department at: >> Sunnyside Academy >> Manor Farm Way >> Colby Newham >> Middlesbrough >> Cleveland >> United Kingdom >> f >> On 23 Jul 2014, at 16:31, Mike Stopka <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi Gordon, in the jaws you do have to buy the Citrix and remote access and >> NVDA they still have not implemented anything as of yet I know it can be >> done but it's very slow and that's all very bleeding edge code but as far as >> I know it's not she implemented into NVDA yet I was just looking into the >> same thing for a home server here's well and I'm can have to buy the Citrix >> and the draws remote access lucky for me I got into a position where I could >> do so I prefer Johnsarbor NVDA anyway but still using PDA >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> On Jul 23, 2014, at 9:20 AM, Gordon Smith <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Greetings again my fellow enthusiasts! >>> >>> While it is true that NVDA provides very good accessibility to most things >>> Windows, I am still finding myself using Jaws more and more. However, what >>> I would like to know is how you use remote access services under NVDA? >>> With Jaws, I’m going to have to purchase the add-on that gives you access >>> to remote terminal series and Citrix. On that last point, does anybody >>> know from where you need to download the Citrix server module? I gather it >>> needs to be installed before JAWS, is that correct? if so, presumably one >>> needs to remove and then reinstall JAWS itself, but retain user and shared >>> settings, correct? >>> >>> As for Jaws itself, I am finding it extremely stable and robust for the >>> most part. I’m in the process of installing a new system which I bought >>> bare-bones a few weeks ago. It’s going to be used primarily as a server >>> for various functions, but Jaws will be used on that machine as Window-Eyes >>> doesn’t seem to want to install, and NVDA is not as responsive as JAWS. >>> >>> Sorry for the ramble. >>> >>> Kindest regards >>> >>> <--- Gordon Smith ---> >>> <[email protected]> >>> >>> Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; >>> Proudly Providing Braille And Alternative Format Transcription Services, >>> Plus I.T Help & Support To The Staff And Students Of the Visually Impaired >>> Department at: >>> Sunnyside Academy >>> Manor Farm Way >>> Colby Newham >>> Middlesbrough >>> Cleveland >>> United Kingdom >>> >>> ============================== >>> >>> >>> >>> Telephone: >>> >>> United Kingdom: Free Phone: >>> 0800 8620538 >>> >>> United Kingdom Geographic: >>> 01133 280547 >>> Mobile: >>> +44 7907 823971 >>> >>> Europe and other non-specified: >>> +44 1642 688095 >>> >>> United States Of America And Canada: >>> +1 646 9151493 >>> Or: >>> +1 209 436 9443 >>> >>> Australasia: >>> +61 38 8205930 >>> Or: >>> +61 39 0284505 >>> >>> Fax: >>> +44 1642 365123 >>> >>> Follow Us On Twitter: >>> <http://twitter.com/maciosaccess> >>> >>> Skype: >>> <skype:mac-access-dot-net?call> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ======================================= >>> >>> To post to this group, please send your message to: >>> [email protected] >>> The Windows-Access E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, >>> virus and worm-free >>> >>> To modify your subscription options, please visit your personalise >>> subscriber options page, located at >>> http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/windows-access >>> >>> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Windows-Access forum >>> at either of the following websites: >>> http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/windows-access/index.html >>> Or: >>> <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> >>> >>> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. 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The feed is at: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> > > --------------------------------------- > > > [email protected] ======================================= To post to this group, please send your message to: [email protected] The Windows-Access E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit your personalise subscriber options page, located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/windows-access You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Windows-Access forum at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/windows-access/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. 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