[access-uk] Re: NVDA 2009.1 has been released
- From: "Tristram Llewellyn" <tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:00:48 -0000
I will have to respectfully decline any invitation to speak specifically about
NVDA in comparing it to the commercial offerings to avoid accusations of
prejudice or vested interest since the company I work for sells some of the
commercial offerings under advisement.
However my point generally would be that it is an achievement in itself that
there is such a thing as an open source solution for screen reading in Windows
and that it has become possible for this to be the case. The argument as to
quality of stability reminds me somewhat of the same argument held over 15
years ago regarding the quality of "Shareware" verses commercial applications
with the former usually coming off worse in estimations. It probably took in
the region of 10 years from the very beginnings of the shareware software
movement to a point where one might think of them as having offerings that
faired favourably.
Today we have moved somewhat forward and now there is very good quality
software available through shareware, open source and even some freeware within
the mainstream. Outside of the mainstream things will move more slowly. The
commercial offerings will always tend to focus on the dominant application
offerings because that is the core business, however those such as NVDA do not
necessarily have to or need to.
Drawing these themes somewhat together is the fact that whilst Open Source
speech is available in a variety of guises including NVDA they are usually
harder (especially for the unseasoned) to get working the way a user wants
which is both a technical and a knowledge gap presently. I believe that whilst
this is true now one is looking at a moving target and ultimately it is a
question of there being some kind of business model behind it to drive some of
the development forward. Such has already developed in parts of the mainstream
Open Source software industry where the software is provided or packaged more
or less free (or at cost only) and then the sell is the services to support and
maintain the software (as happens with some Linux distributions presently).
Perhaps a similar model may develop in a more medium to long future regarding
access technology software where people can build off solutions that are
already there but also still make some kind of living for their labour and
drive development at a pace closer to that of commercial software and that
which end users might expect.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
Sight and Sound Technology
Technical Support
www.sightandsound.co.uk
Mail:
Tristram: tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical: Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
General - info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone:
Support line: 0845 634 7979
Sight and Sound Technology Limited is a company registered in England and
Wales, with company number 1408275.
Sight and Sound Technology
Welton House North Wing
Summerhouse Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6WD
VAT Number - GB 860 2121 66.
Other related posts: