Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
- From: "Gene" <guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:06:20 -0400
One reason for that could be the fact that Microsoft it self either has or
is about to discontinue support for that O. S.
Thanks; Gene
On MSN and Yahoo - guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: "RJ" <rjf1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 8:07 PM
Subject: Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
> It appears as FS couldn't care less about the blind consumers. It is
> profit
> and profit only they seem to care about. The last two upgrades were a
> disaster for win 98 c users in my opinion.
> RJ
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gene" <guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:55 PM
> Subject: Re: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>
>
>> No company I know of supports every piece of hardware that comes out. If
> FS
>> has a product they think is comparable to the hardware in question then
>> of
>> course they aren't going to support something built by the competition.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks; Gene
>>
>> On MSN and Yahoo - guystevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Wil James" <wil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:48 PM
>> Subject: Freedom Scientific's Lack of Support for Hardware
>>
>>
>> > This makes no sense to me in any way, shape, fashion, or form. Let me
>> > set up the context for you.
>> >
>> > Someone wrote on the GW Micro list about the Braille Sense, the newesst
>> > PDA from GW Micro, inquiring about a driver for JAWS to work with its
>> > braille display. I was shocked to see the below response. This is
>> > directly from Doug Geoffray.
>> >
>> > Begin Quote
>> > Hello Robert,
>> >
>> > I'm very glad you asked this question. This has generated great
>> > frustration for me.
>> >
>> > With Window-Eyes, our philosophy is to support as many synthesizers and
>> > as
>> > many braille displays as possible. Even if this means we need to
>> > support
>> > products from competing companies. It just seems so clear in my mind
>> > that
>> > this is the only approach.
>> >
>> > However, Freedom Scientific obviously doesn't feel as I do about
>> > this. HIMS had contacted Freedom Scientific several months ago
>> > regarding
>> > the ability to create a JAWS driver for the Braille Sense. Freedom
>> > Scientific never responded. Thinking I had a better relationship with
>> > Freedom, I decided to send an email to Eric Damery directly regarding
>> > this. Like HIMS, I never got a response. A couple weeks ago I saw
>> > Eric
>> > in
>> > person and asked him about this... He said he would get back with me
>> > by
>> >
>> > the end of the week with what I needed. Well, I did hear back in email
>> > at
>> > the end of the week but it wasn't what I needed. Let me quote Eric's
>> > official response:
>> >
>> > "At this time, we don't feel it makes good business sense for Freedom
>> > Scientific to work with HIMS or their Distributors to provide the
>> > necessary
>> > specification or support the development of a driver to be used by JAWS
>> > for
>> > Windows."
>> >
>> > This just blew me away. Since the beginning of Freedom Scientific all
>> > I
>> >
>> > have heard is that this one stop shopping idea is best for the
>> > user. Creating one company that handles all products for all blind and
>> > visually impaired users is only going to help the industry and of
>> > course
>> >
>> > blind people. Well, all I have seen are prices going up and fear of
>> > competition and anything that can be done to squash competition even if
>> > that means not giving existing and future JAWS users access to all
>> > their
>> >
>> > options. Options such as the Braille Sense.
>> >
>> > Keep in mind that with Window-Eyes we, meaning GW Micro, create all the
>> > synthesizer and braille drivers ourselves. With JAWS, the drivers are
>> > not
>> > written by Freedom Scientific but usually the manufacturer of the
>> > device. So for the Braille Sense, we are not asking Freedom Scientific
>> > to
>> > create the driver, we are asking for the development kit they already
>> > have
>> > which documents how the driver should be written to interface into
>> > JAWS. Bottom line, there is no extra work on Freedom's part to create
>> > this
>> > driver. We will do that. But they refuse to give us the existing
>> > necessary information simply because it competes with their PACMate
>> > which
>> > has been struggling.
>> >
>> > My frustration is that Freedom Scientific has grown so big and arrogant
>> > that they can turn their back on blind users simply for a buck.
>> >
>> > So Robert, to answer your question specifically. We would love to
>> > create a
>> > JAWS driver for the Braille Sense. But Freedom Scientific is tieing
>> > our
>> >
>> > hands because they feel threatened by the Braille Sense.
>> > End Quote
>> >
>> >
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > This message was written and composed on the Pac mate.
>> > --------------------------------------
>> > Visit my blog at
>> > http://wil.wilanddenise.com
>> > ------------------------------
>> >
>> >
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>>
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