[macvoiceover] Questions

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? 
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.
2.2 How well does VO work with Skype? 
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?
2.5 I'm doing German, anyway of finding a German voice for reading my 
documents? 
Mac is based on Unix, do we have access to a type of shell to run text-based 
applications with VO?
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? 
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

Other related posts: