[macvoiceover] Re: Questions

I also read another article yesterday saying that there are better keyboard 
workarounds for VO then even the ones recommended by Apple in their getting 
started tutorial? Is this true, and if so, what are they? I'll probably be 
going on Saturday to see the Mac. 
Ari
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Poehlman 
  To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 9:25 PM
  Subject: [macvoiceover] Re: Questions


  one more thing to consider is that you can put full windowsxp/vista on a Mac 
right alongside the Mac os.  This should you need it gives you access to all 
the windows you need.  If you run Windows under "bootcamp", you can use it with 
any assistive technology.  Boootcamp is in beta and free for download and will 
be included in the soon to be released next edition of Mac osx.  There are 
virtual machine options for the Mac, but they cost and they are limitted as to 
what assistive technologies are supported.  Another disadvantage to the vm 
approach is that you must split your ram which means in essence that if you 
have 3gb of ram, you have in reality, 1.5 for each system which should still be 
adaquate but should be taken into account.


  On Apr 7, 2007, at 1:21 PM, Greg Kearney wrote:




  On Apr 7, 2007, at 10:30 AM, Ari wrote:


    Hi all,
    I will first put my situation in perspective.
    I am a Politics student, so not really what you would call much of an 
IT-type expert.
    My laptop has finally given up the ghost, and for its replacement, I am 
thinking of a mac, as I am excited about the fact that VO is built into the 
operating system, but there are a few very important questions I'd like answers 
to.
    1. I found some blog called Blind Confidential, and the author reckons that 
Apple is not really committed to accessibility, that VO is just there to comply 
with the legislation that you guys in America have. Obviously I know that it's 
just a point of view, but what I'd like to know is, is how often is VO updated, 
or is accessibility that good that people don't fall behind when newer software 
is released? Is Apple really committed, or will I regret going for the Mac 
option? 


  Apple VoiceOver is updated with each operating system update. As it is part 
of the operating system itself. If needed intermediate updates are provided 
free over the internet as with other parts of the MacOS. As it is integrated 
with the OS update to VoiceOver cost only what the OS costs. It is not a added 
cost as it is in Windows. 


  Apple is fully committed to VoiceOver and is expanding it to support braille 
devices.




    2. These are the following tasks I want to use VO for, I don't mind putting 
in the effort to learn VO, but I want to know if these tasks can be performed 
well. 
    2.1 Advanced word processing, such as working with tables, and when I edit 
text I obviously need to be able to work with the text effectively, such as 
fonts, adjusting the line spacing, headers and footers, etc.


  With VoiceOver it is up to the software maker to insure compatibility. 
Several word processors are in the process of making the needed changes. iText 
Express is a free word processor that support headers, footers, footnotes and 
such and is VoiceOver compatible. 


  For academic papers that require the highest standards of layout and 
presentation nothing comes close to the TeX and LaTeX typesetting system on 
either Mac or Windows. TeXShop is fully VoiceOver compatible as is BibDesk the 
bibliographic database system that is compatible with TeX and LaTeX. You should 
be warned however that TeX and LaTex are complex systems with a steep learning 
curve.


    2.2 How well does VO work with Skype? 


  Not as well as I wish it would there was an early version of Skype That 
worked better. I will put a copy of it on my server if you like.


    2.3 OCR? 
    2.4 I have a device onto which I load my textbooks, the Book Courier, 
anyway of getting it to work with the Mac?


  BookCourier is not a real DAISY playback device. Rather it converts DAISY to 
it's own format. If your books are simply text files I have written an 
installer tool for Mac that can install them. Let me know.




    2.5 I'm doing German, anyway of finding a German voice for reading my 
documents?


  VoiceOver is an English only interface system at the moment. You can however 
get German voices from Cepstral and AssistiveWare.


    Mac is based on Unix, do we have access to a type of shell to run 
text-based applications with VO?


  Yes there is a terminal application as part of the OS and you can use the 
UNIX application with it and VoiceOver.


    2.6 And since it's a laptop, the obvious question is how much does a person 
rely on the full-sized keyboard's numeric pad when using VO?


  VoiceOver is fully usable from a laptop keyboard.


    Sorry if these questions sounded basic, it's just that I'm going to see a 
Mac for the first time next week, so somehow need to know what I'm getting in 
to if I take the Mac option.
    Thanks
    Ari






  Greg Kearney

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