I downloaded it and fooled with it a bit. But I meediately got stalled so
it's sitting there. I don't sort books or keep them after I use them. I
don't choose by category, I download individual new books that I've either
heard about or that apeal to me or I put them on my wish list. There are
maybe 240 on my wish list. I was amazed that someone said he had 3,000 on
his wishlist. I usually look only at the up to the minute books or some of
the other recently added books and not even all of those, only newly
produced ones, or I search for ones that I've learned about somewhere, and I
use the companion software to unzip and transfer them to my SD card or
cartridge. So since learning any new technology is so difficult for me, it's
hardly worth it. What amazed me is the time spent on discussing it. But
there are lots of people who enjoy playing with this stuff and are good at
it, and others who think it's a moral imperative to acquire every new thing
that comes along. I should be accustomed to this by now.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Sunday, December 25, 2016 9:34 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Venting about BARD Express
I downloaded it myself mainly because I was curious about it. Besides that,
though, I really do agree that it is rather ludicrous to comment on it
either positively or negatively without ever having tried it. It was never
intended for everyone in the first place and because I had mastered the use
of the web site I expected that I would be among the ones for whom it was
not intended. Largely I was correct. I said on the BARD Talk list that I
would probably be removing it, but then I started to have second thoughts.
Its sorting capabilities are at least a bit attractive. So I thought I would
play around with it a bit more before I made my final decision to remove it.
I ended up removing it by accident though. My computer locked up and I had
to restore it and the most recent restore point was just before the BARD
Express software was installed. That software didn't have anything to do
with my stalled computer though. It was something stupid I did myself. Now I
am contemplating downloading it again. I will say that if it is intended for
people new to computers who have limited computer skills I don't see that.
You have to have some amount of skill to download it and install it in the
first place and the skill involved in that is at about the same level and is
similar to downloading and transferring as we have been doing all along.
Then there is the necessity of learning how to use it. Compared to a lot of
things I have forced myself to learn on a computer it is very easy, but it
still has to be learned and so it only seems to me to be different, not a
lot simpler. After I got the gist of when and where to tab or arrow it was
kind of fun to play around with, though, just to see what I could do with
it. Let me be clear, though, that not only was it not made for everyone, it
still was made for some and I can see why some people would like the
interface over that of the web site. That is why I would not advise anyone
to dismiss it without trying it. You just might like it and if you don't
then all you have lost is a little time.
On 12/23/2016 11:28 AM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Everyone is talking about this new software that is available on themessages regarding this thing. By the way, if you haven't heard about it and
BARD website, I mean everyone on 3 different lists. Having already
gotten myself in difficulty with the moderator of BARD Talk, I won't
express my feelings on that list. So, you all on Blind Democracy, can
be my non judgmental friends. It may be that this software is helpful
to some people. People who want to sort through categories quickly,
perhaps. I also gather that once you've downloaded the software and
logged in, you don't have to log in each time you use it as you do
with the BARD site. And it has a capability to unzip and transfer
books to your cartridge, SD card, or whatever. But since the Humanware
Companion software unzips and transfers books, those from Bookshare as
well as from BARD, and since I'm not interested in downloading large
numbers of books or sorting through categories, I'm quite satisfied
doing things as I have. But what is amazing to me is how everyone on
these lists, or at least almost everyone, feels impelled to play with
this new software, even though many have been quite satisfied with
their current methods of using the BARD site. Some folks expressed
resentment, innitially, at a new piece of software, but very quickly
they submitted to the pressure from the moderator and the majority of
list members. They apologized profusely for their bad attitudes, tried
the new software, and then determined that they might or might not use
it. Some people think it's wonderful. Some people are spending a lot
of time learning to set it up and use it. Many of these people
actually download most of their books to their I phones so for them,
this whole thing appears to me, to be an exercise in futility. Maybe
they just enjoy playing around with new programs or apps or whatever.
All I want to do is get the books I'm interested in reading, in the
way that's easiest and most efficient for me. There've been two days of
Miriam
