[bksvol-discuss] Re: Apple anyone?
- From: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:27:55 -0500
Hi,
I use all three OS (Windows, Macintosh and GNU/Linux) these days.
Coincidentally, I was going to download a couple of OCR program demos for
Mac today and see how well they work.
We're in our Cambridge home so I have an old Windows laptop, a real nice
little Macintosh and run GNU/Linux using a virtual machine on my Mac. I
have OP for the PC and an open source OCR program for GNU/Linux which works
not too badly and, as it has no monetary cost, it's clearly worth more than
I paid for it.
When shopping for a Mac, you can remember that using VMWare Fusion (about
$100) you can also have Windows and GNU/Linux as well as a number of other
operating systems installed and easily switch among them. I'll be
installing Windows on my Mac this week, thus obviating the PC laptop.
Happy Hacking,
cdh
Chris Hofstader
email: cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Blog: http://www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com
<http://www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com/>
Skype: BlindChristian
_____
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Monica Willyard
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 2:27 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Apple anyone?
Hi, Mary Anne. I took a look at scanning technology on the Mac recently when
considering which laptop to buy. I really like so many things about the Mac,
but Bookshare work was my sticking point. I spoke with nine blind Mac users
and ended up with more questions than answers. I learned that there is a
version of OmniPage for the Mac and a version of FineReader as well. I was
told that VoiceOver will work with OmniPage with a few quirks. There is no
program comparable to Kurzweil for a Mac. I have also been told that
Microsoft Office doesn't work with speech on a Mac. For those reasons, I
chose not to buy one since a lot of my time is spent scanning and
validating. If you have sight, these issues won't be a problem for you. If
you use speech, you would need to find a program that can handle rtf files
and that will notify you of the presence of page breaks. I think we have a
couple of Mac users who volunteer for Bookshare. I don't know if they use
their Mac for their volunteering though since they have multiple computers.
The volunteer I did speak with told me that I would need to deal with some
formatting quirks. I really want to use a Mac and see what it's like. I
couldn't justify spending the money on one with so many unknowns since I'd
have to buy a totally new scanning package and such. I don't intend to sound
negative here. I can only describe my experiences. I hope you'll be able to
prove me wrong and make me regret buying a Dell. (grin)
Monica Willyard
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker
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