RE: My LEtter to FS
- From: "Rose Combs" <rosecombs@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 20:48:38 -0700
Did you spell check this letter? I ask because I am noting on my end
some very glaring errors. If you wish to be taken seriously this should
be re-written and put through spell check.
Normally I would not criticize spelling on an e-mail list, but due to
the nature of this letter I felt it was necessary to draw attention to
the errors.
Plain and simple, when you wish to be taken as a serious professional
you must communicate like a professional.
This is not meant to be mean-spirited, I hope it isn't taken that way.
Rose Combs
rosecombs@xxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Bruce Toews
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 9:08 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: My LEtter to FS
Here, before Mames tells us to stop the thread, in case he's still
monitoring the list, is my letter to FS.
Subject: Disappointment with Recent JAWS Developments
First, I want to say that I know there are some very good people working
for
FS. This is not directed to them. However, I do not know of other
avenues to
take in expressing my concerns, and I feel these concerns need to be
expressed.
I have been a JAWS user for several years now. I purchased the product
and all
related SMA's out of my own pocket. I believed, and still believe, that
I was
making the right choice.
However, it seems to me that FS is making not just an inadvertent
distancing
from their customer base, but seems to be making a concerted effort to
do so.
The result is a series of upgrades and updates with little useful new
functionality implemented, with few bugs being fixed, and a growing
feeling
among the average JAWS user, the people without whom there would be no
JAWS,
feeling that they have no say. The frustration is mounting, the anger is
increasing, and that frustration and anger are, I feel, quite justified.
Never
was this made more clear to me than when I tried, through proper
channels in a
public beta process, to report a bug with JAWS and the TripleTalk
synthesizer.
The response I received back was, in essence, Yes it's a bug, live with
it. I
no longer have a TripleTalk synthesizer, but as the bug sent through all
incarnations of JAWS 5 without a fix, I can only assume the bug is still
there.
Access Solutions tells me that FS had promised to include the JAWS
drivers for
the DecTalk USB in JFW 6. I don't know about JFW 6.1, but in JFW 6.0
this did
not happen.
The horror stories I am reading from users on the JFW list have led me
to
decide not to upgrade to 6.1. This is a first for me, becasue I am one
who very
much likes to put new software through its paces, which is why I tried
several
times to offer my services as a beta tester (by way of reward for which
I was
given several ridiculous runarounds, I gave FS personal information to
which
they would not be otherwise entitled, and was finally told my services
would
not be required). A lot of these horror stories would, I am sure, have
been
avoidable if FS would reimplement the public beta process, the removal
of which
is just another example of the programmers isolating themselves from the
end-users.
FS has further not endeared itself to the general usership by adding
features
at additional cost which the competition offers at no additional cost.
Iw will
soon become just as cost-effective to purchase Window-Eyes as to pay for
the
upgrading JAWS requires, and given the apparent focus on stability which
GW
Micro is exhibiting, some users may well see this as preferable.
We need FS to concentrate on stability, on bug-fixes, on evoking
loyalty, not
rage, from its user-base. Loyalty cannot be counted on to sustain JAWS's
popularity in the future, if that loyalty isn't earned. The march over
to the
competition will happene, gradually, but it will happen. I am still a
loyal
JAWS user, becasue I prefer the JAWS interface. I have, until now,
defended FS
and JAWS against many criticisms. But I find the product FS is putting
out
these days, combined with the concerted effort to alienate its customer
base to
be indefensible, and I have moved to the side of the critics. I have
both
products on my system, and they are both up-to-date. My loyalty to JAWS
is not
bulletproof, and the more bullets FS fires into it, the weaker it
becomes.
I invested in this. I saved my hard-earned salarty to purchase your
product. If
I hadn't invested, if I didn't believe in my investment, I wouldn't
care. But I
do care, because I want to be a part of the solution, not of the
problem. I
want JAWS to work because I have put several months' salarty into it. I
want it
to work because I don't like finding out I made stupid decisions. I want
it to
work because I truly do like JAWS.
Finally, I urge you to consider this question. The sentiment toward GW
Micro
from its users is one of increased loyalty. The sentiment to FS from its
customers is one of increased bitterness, anger, alienation and outrage.
Why is
this the case, and when will FS decide that it is not worth it and aim
toward
stabilizing the loyalty of the existing users, the paople who pay your
salary
in the long run, the people for whom FS claims to be in business?
--
Bruce Toews
MSN/Windows Messenger: water_drinker@xxxxxxxx
Web Site (including info on my weekly commentaries): http://www.ogts.net
Info on the best TV show of all time: http://www.cornergas.com
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