[nvda] Re: window-eyes7 beta with scripting

There is no logical reason for the hostility many blind people in the open
source community, and out of it for that matter, display toward for profit
screen-readers.  First, as a matter of simple economics, for profit
screen-readers need to charge a fair amount of money because the customer
base is so small and development and expansion of functionality never stops.
Also, you aren't paying 900 dollars for one year's access.  You can use the
program as long as it meets your needs without upgrading.  I haven't checked
the cost for an upgrade but if you upgrade each year, it's probably between
100 and 150 dollars as a rough guess. Many users can use versions of screen-readers that are many years old and do everything or almost everything they want to with the older versions. 

Second, in lots of cases, the for profit screen-readers set standards and
developed approaches that open source screen-readers either are held to or
hold themselves to.  The Internet is an excellent example.  Third, while I'm
pleased that open source screen-readers and other free alternatives are now
available, the plain fact is that for profit Windows screen-readers were
available a decade or more before any free product was.  Where was the open
source community all that time?

Also, considering the very different primary user bases of for profit
screen-readers and free ones, it is not logical to believe that Window-eyes
added scripting to compete with NVDA.  If anything, it did so to compete
with JAWS.  Only a short-sighted person would rejoice if the free
screen-readers significantly erode the customer base of for profit
screen-readers.  For profit screen-readers are necessary.  No open-source
screen-reader is going to have the development base to keep up with
developments in expanding the range of access to new applications as the for
profit screen-readers.  This is important for personal users who want access
to applications not available in free screen-readers and is essential in
terms of employment. To prove my point about lack of development resources, consider how long it has taken NVDA to get support for FireFox. It still doesn't have anything approaching proper support for Internet. Explorer. Maybe it will be able to use hooks one day to provide better access to some programs and just plain acces to others. Note carefully that I am not disparaging NVDA. I think it is important that a free screen-reader be available. But neither am I disparaging the for profit screen-readers. Indeed, there appears to be far more hostility in the open source community, at least judging by this list toward the for profit screen-readers than there is in the for profit community toward NVDA. And let's be fair and take account of the for profit manufacturers attempts to meet the needs of those who can't afford their programs. A number of years ago, one of the important people at G W Micro stated, on Main Menu, that one reason the demo runs for half an hour and doesn't have an expiration date is because G W Micro knows that many people can't afford the program and they keep that in mind in designing the demo. 

Free and for profit screen-readers have their
place and they both make important contributions to the blind community
having access to computers.  As I said at the outset, hostility toward for
profit screen-readers is not justified.

Gene
----- ----- Original Message ----- From: John Greer 
 To: nvda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:54 PM
 Subject: [nvda] Re: window-eyes7 beta with scripting


 Perhaps a better perspective on it.  If it were not for NVDA, perhaps
Window Eyes would have never felt the need to add a scripting language into
their screen reader.  To me it just shows they feel affordable screen
readers like System Access and NVDA to be a threat to their bottom line,
$$$.  I know that since I made the switch to Vista installing Window Eyes
has not even been in consideration.  I know for a fact that NVDA and
narrator are the only 2 screen readers I know of that can work with the
media center in vista.  Jaws, Window Eyes and System access all cause media
center to hang because of their video intercept or display hooks.  So for
me, let them have their scripting language, to me and to many others it
comes down to not having to pay anything extra to use a computer simply
because we are that so called niche market called the blind.  I still refuse
to give GW Micro 900 dollars to use their product for a year.

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