[macvoiceover] Re: Questions


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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