Wow-wow-wow-wow - hold the phone a minute! I don't think that the blind community's the only entity out there who likes to get "free stuff" when it comes to software. The Digital Goddess, Kim Komando, a radio talk show guru in the states, quite often touts free stuff at her store or elsewhere. That ain't just for us blind folks out here. I'm sure that a good many of us would pay for decent quality software that does the job efficiently. We're at a crossroads right now with technology changing so rapidly; the engine's running away from the rest of the train because we're having a tough time staying hooked to it. The biggest problem I see is money. A good many of us, including yours truly, are riding out some rather tough economic times. We simply don't have the extra funds to go out and completely revamp things, and a lot of the so called compassionate state agencies aren't going to step in and help us without a lot of strings attached. Then there's the developer's side of it; it's becoming more than just a few fixes and retooling things to make it work. A lot of this accessibility stuff's gonna have to be rebuilt from the ground up. These people need to be paid for their hard work and expertise.
As for me, I resent being told that I need to scrap everything I have and start dumping money that I don't have into the so called latest and greatest, when what I have is working fine. From a business perspective, it doesn't make sense right now to go after things that may not yield some kind of a payback within a reasonable amount of time. Microsoft has been constantly finding ways to separate people from their money, even if it's for stuff to supposedly help protect your computer. It's become such a money pit over the years; and quite frankly is getting to be insane. These assistive technology developers must be pulling their hair out trying to keep up with all this; and yet we're somehow supposed to go on as if there's nothing to see here. Don't get me wrong; I'm not opposed to change. Too much at one time is never a good thing.
What I'd really like to know is just what sorts of things that Native Keys will give us access to? For instance, how about some of these high-end plugs, like some of the choirs that you can use Word Builder to make them sing lyrics? I know that many of the interfaces are bitmapped, so how would that work? There's a plug that I really wanted called ChoirsX, and it's not really extensive; I think it's in the neighborhood of 50 bucks or so. It's a great effect for creating multiple unison voices from one voice. I believe that you can generate up to 32 voices with it. It's completely inaccessible, even through the Inspector. So how about that one? If there are comparable plugs out there that NK would work with, so be it! Even if we could just work through the Inspector, that's great unto itself. For me, I get tired of always having to be on pins and needles with all of this, because where does it end? Up to now, we've had some pretty good stuff that works. Now there's the prospect of not having decent stuff that works; and that you don't have to spend so much time messing around with it to make it work. I like creating my own sounds and/or tweaking or editing them to suit what I do. I don't want to have to constantly go through a dog and pony show to make it happen.
I stand by Dancing Dot's decision not to move ahead with rebuilding CakeTalking for Sonar X3 right now. Believe me, I have absolutely nothing to gain by that statement. They must know a little more than we do about what it's going to take to make that happen. I'm sure that there would have to be a massive undertaking to do it; and that takes a lot of resources. I'm not being a party poop on this stuff either; I believe that people should be able to obtain the tools they need for their situation within reason. I cringe to think what's going to end up happening when we get to Windows 10. Then there's the notion out there that some people want to be able to have their recording studio on their phone, tablet, or whatever mobile device. That ought to be rather interesting doing complex editing quickly and efficiently with a touch-screen.
Sorry for the rant; but I thought I'd put my two cents in for what it's worth.
Mike----- Original Message ----- From: "D!J!X!" <megamansuperior@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2014 15:15 Subject: [ddots-l] Re: A suggestion for one team talk sessionIs that fair? I mean to the developer. Let's say there are 100 CT users who all want NK. Who pays Victor for those 100 licenses for his software? DancingDots? Should he just give them away? If he were to charge 100 dollars for NK, that would be 10,000 dollars he'd be losing out on, and countless hours of work gone unpaid for. I guess you could work out a discount price (if he agrees), or let each person buy the plug individually. For example, do you see Steve charging JSonar users for his sets and giving it away for free to CT users because they've paid for CT? No, you want the product, you pay the developer for it, regardless of what access technology they are using. As someone who's worked in the software development field, I can tell you that it's only fair to pay a developer for the many hours that go into coding a piece of software. IMO, that's one of the reason nothing will ever get done in this community when it comes to accessibility and access, everybody just wants the free stuff, nobody wants to pay; it's why those of us who can develop access to our own stuff privately, and don't even bother trying to release it to the mainstream, because it would be a waste of time and just added work to write docs, give support etc. Unfortunately this kind of work takes allot of time to do, so we are then torn between making money elsewhere to sustain ourselves and our families, or developing stuff to help the community but go without income. We are a small community as it is, and those in the community who are willing to pay are even a smaller group, so that's gonna be an everlasting issue lol.
Regards, D!J!X!
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