I just installed a Mac at work with a 20 inch screen with no vision at all. It not only has a talking install but it also gave me a tutorial on Voice over when it started up. I am not a Mac nut and do not like the interface but as for accessibility and doing everything you just mentioned it is fully accessible and all you asked about is possible. Something you will find coming from a window environment though is it is very different and will be tough to switch to. After the switch though it works well. I will say though that I have now installed Ubuntu, Vista, and Mac and Mac was the easiest install. The voice is very good and very responsive. I have not used Microsoft Office on it yet or Iwork yet because we have not purchased a copy of it for the Mac yet. That will happen in the next couple weeks though and then I will be able to comment more from a Mac beginners stand point on how easy it is to use. I would suggest if you have a friend that loves his mac so much then do some web browsing there is a Mac blind users group and there are documents on all the key presses you need to know. Just go over to your friends house and press the Apple key-F5 and your off and running with a talking Mac. That way you would have him there to tell you when you are messing things up. I do find one thing really annoying if your not careful on your Desktop and application list you can rename everything just by pressing enter on it. That's right you don't press enter to open an application you Press Apple - O which is probably one of the hardest things to stop your finger from doing. If you take your enter key off your Windows box a month before you start using the Mac you might do ok. Ken -----Original Message----- From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nick.Adamson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 5:20 AM To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; program-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Accessibility of the Mac Minnie for office, web and development. Hi All. I'm sure this has been spoken about so many times but I've not been interested before. One of the guys at work has been talking about his mac and I'm pretty impressed. I'm thinking about one for home and I'm wondering about accessibility. I know there's Voice Over which is the built in screen reader. How good is this, how does it compare to the plethora of windows screen readers. Mostly I'd want to do email, office type applications, read books which are plain text or html, brows the web, maybe a bit of IM. I'd also want to develop PHP on it and some C++. what are the development environments like, how accessible are they? Any information gratefully received. Cheers. Nick. Nick Adamson Software Engineer General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited Email: nick.adamson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tel: 01495 236467 http://www.generaldynamics.uk.com General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited Bryn Brithdir, Units 3 & 4, Oakdale Business Park, Oakdale, South Wales, NP12 4AA. This email and any files attached are intended for the addressee and may contain information of a confidential nature. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that this email was sent to you in error and you should not disclose, distribute, print, copy or make other use of this email or its attachments. Such actions, in fact, may be unlawful. In compliance with the various Regulations and Acts, General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited reserves the right to monitor (and examine for viruses) all emails and email attachments, both inbound and outbound. Email communications and their attachments may not be secure or error- or virus-free and the company does not accept liability or responsibility for such matters or the consequences thereof. General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited, Registered Office: 100 New Bridge Street, London EC4V 6JA. Registered in England and Wales No: 1911653. __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind