Hi Ibby. I was looking at the Freedom Scientific site and note with some concern that connect outloud does look to have fallen behind somewhat in terms of browser support. it does not seem to support internet explorer 7 for example. At £195.00 it is quite well priced though if they can afford it I would suggest spending a little more on System Access. Connect Outloud costs £195.00 where System Access costs £225.00 for a similar product. A version that can be loaded onto a USB key costs £275.00 but System Access is somewhat more up to date and allows access to a much greater range of software such as Microsoft Word and Excel. Regards Graham Graham Page Home Phone: 0207 265 9493 Mobile: 07753 607980 Fax: 0870 706 2773 Email: gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx MSN: gabriel_mcbird@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: gabriel_mcbird ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ibby Karbhari" <ibbyk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 7:17 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: guide from software express Hi Graham and all, Firstly, can guide users do home shopping on the web? Connect Outloud can access the web, Outlook Express, and Wordpad and computer navigation and I would train anyone in their home for a complete day for £150. Cheers, Ibby Karbhari . Phone: 020 7193 8755 . Mobile: 07017 41 41 41 . If you have Skype installed on your Pc You can also talk with me on Skype by clicking on my username IbbyKar E-Mail: ibbyk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Graham Page Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 6:25 PM To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] guide from software express Hi all. Since this has been discussed I thought I would look further at the website. There is a vidio there of using guide though not all this video is done with visually impaired users in mind that can not read the screen so you may not learn that much about how to actually use the program from this. There is an FAQ and there it says that if the user does not have an internet connection already then one can be arranged. I will contact Software Express on how this would work in practice as I am more than a little curious. Secondly one of my other concerns about this way of using the PC is antivirus and firewall software. Using the Windows XP firewall is suggested in the FAQ which should be fine for most users. For antivirus AVG or Avast is suggested. I assume one of these can be installed by Software Express before delivering a PC to a new user, but what happens when a virus is detected? How will the user know if a virus is found and read what to do with it? and, if the windows firewall does want to block a connection how will a user access the dialog deal with this? many of these setup questions arise for all computer users regardless of sight and it can be reasonably be claimed that the PC has failed as a piece of consumer electronics because there are just too many complications. I would therefore always say that where possible, a user should get to grips with windows and a screenreader. Free screenreaders such as thunder are available already and development versions of Non-Visual Desktop which is an open source screenreader are available as well. If you are truely computerphobic, using Guide and going through the hastle of getting everything set up is likely to be a serious disinsentive , but that is true for everyone. Can a user run a program like Guide from anyone's computer? this could allow users to install Guide on a more knowledgeable friend's PC for example to get initial help using the program. In many ways, the more pressing need for new users is affordable training. for most people Software Express's price of £225 plus vat per half day is not affordable but Software express is I understand a private company that must make money and in the market place of training in work this figure seems quite competetive, but it is a lot for a home user to find. I know that some grants and charities have existed offering genuinely affordable training to home users, often funded in part at least by grants and I suspect that government funding or charity or possibly social companies could be used to provide this training. Regards graham Graham Page Home Phone: 0207 265 9493 Mobile: 07753 607980 Fax: 0870 706 2773 Email: gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx MSN: gabriel_mcbird@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: gabriel_mcbird ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. 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