[bcab] Re: Thunder (was RE: Wish List)

Hi,

I've been a JAWS user now since I changed from the Old DOS 6 (which I was using with HAL at that time), To windows 98, and currently on XP Pro. I was very suspicious of Thunder when I first read about it, no doubt as a result of being Brain washed by the likes of Freedom Scientific and their hell-bent aim to ensure Microsoft world denomination and iron fist hold of their market share. Wow, I was very very impressed with the Thunder screen reader, it downloaded nice and quick installed perfectly and runs relaly smoothly on this machine at least. I've been trying it out on this, my old PC which is something like a 1.7 Pentium processor with about half a Gig of RAM and XP Pro on it.

Thunder seems to go through the desktop and start menus fine, and certainly seemed to give enough access to Microsoft Word for pretty much anyones basic requirements. I found it a bit odd on the internet as with Thunder you have to use WebIE, which is subtilly differnt from Internet explorer (which I mainly use), and very differnt from Firefox (which I'm ocasionally using now). But, I was really impressed yet again with how it worked on some of the very busy pages I frequently visit, although the one annoying thing with WebIE which I've not managed to find a setting to change is ithe way it announces the link's 'number' on the page. I.E., Speaks out something along the lines of 'Link 127, click here to enter the site', or whatever the link might be called. This doesn't remove the fact however that on these pages I found WebIE with Thunder read out all the links, including those that were graphical links as well as the more standard (and probably more 'accessable' links). Just that the having to listen to the link number each time made it a slower process than with JAWS.

I think one thing Thunder certainly seems to highlight is why the heck are the likes of Freedom Scientific charging the best part of two times the cost of a Modern PC for a bit of software when something like Thunder can be put out as open source. Sure the answer is straight forward, I don't just use the net or Office, I run Sonar and goldwave and blah blah blah a whole ton of other software that Thunder I don't think would be able to handle in any sembelence of accessability. But hey I guess its early days and with it being open source maybe there will be a point when and where we can give up filling the coffers of Freedom Scientific and their contemporys and go over to such a screen reader as Thunder. Oh, and as I just remembered it the Thunder screen reader also seemed to work fine with Windows Media player.

I don't know if I'm unusual in my PC use over the years, but as I look back and notice that including copies of HAL 5 for DOS and Outlook in the mid 90's, and more recently copies of JAWS under 98 and subsequently XP, I've spent somewhere in the region of £2000 on assistive technology (and that without including scanners TALKS on my Phone Four track tape cassette machines, DAISY players etc). It just seems nice to me that for once its a bit of software that I ain't got to chuck yet another couple hundred quid at.

Cheers

Mark


----Original Message Follows----
From: <tim.pennick@xxxxxx>
Reply-To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bcab] Thunder (was RE: Wish List)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:32:18 +0100

Hi All,

In the "wish list" thread, there have been a number of references to the desirability of a more affordable screen reader. I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried the freeware screenreader called Thunder, available from http:/www.screenreader.net. I've had a brief look at this, and it looked promising for people who need basic internet access and other popular computing functions, but I'm interested in other people's views as I think that this type of initiative has the potential for a major impact on the screen reader market, the consequences of which aren't yet clear.

Regards,

Tim Pennick

*** Disclaimer: ***

The views expressed in this message don't necessarily represent those of my employer.

*** End disclaimer

-----Original Message-----
From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Phil Smalley
Sent: 28 September 2006 09:21
To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bcab] Wish List

Hi,

How about affordable digital TV with Audio Description, say £40! An accessible DVD Recorder for around £150. Come to think of it, Jaws for £150 and ZoomText for £100 would be good too.

Phil





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