RE: My LEtter to FS
- From: Bruce Toews <water_drinker@xxxxxxxx>
- To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 23:19:35 -0500 (CDT)
Yes, you're absolutely correct. It was an oversight on my part which I
shouldn't have allowed.
Bruce
--
Bruce Toews
E-mail and 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
On Mon, 11 Apr 2005, Rose Combs wrote:
> 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?
>
>
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