Freedom Scientific released the latest episode of their FSCast podcast a few
days ago. The podcast has a new set of hosts, John and Larry Gassman, who are
both excellent. They're very good interviewers, have a great sense of humor and
have excellent on-air chemistry. They had a brief discussion with Eric Damery
from Freedom Scientific regarding company news. Here are the highlights from
that discussion.
1. Updates to JAWS, Zoomtext and Fusion are due to be released the second week
of December, probably from Dec. 11 to Dec. 13. Eric indicated that there was a
long list of changes. He didn't elaborate on them but encouraged users to read
them online once they are released.
2. He reminded everyone to renew their SMA or software maintenance agreements
if yours are up for renewal. He said that there would be pricing changes around
the first of the year, which implies that the cost of an SMA will probably
increase.
3. He encouraged customers to consider purchasing JAWS or Zoomtext with the
home annual licensing program. He said that this program was ideal for new
customers as well as customers who are behind with an old version. Customers
who are using JAWS 2019 and who are up to date with their SMA should stay with
their SMA. He said that users should contact FS sales if they are in doubt as
to whether they should stick with their current version or upgrade as they can
receive guidance on what will be the best option for them.
4. The next set of updates to JAWS and Zoomtext should be released by the end
of January.
5. During the CSUN conference in March there will be some big announcements. No
other information was given.
Here are my comments.
1. I don't fully understand why FS would choose to raise the price of the SMA.
All this will do is to persuade customers to jump on the home annual license if
they are using the software for noncommercial use. If you're a new customer who
hasn't yet purchased JAWS or Zoomtext the company will loose money in the
short-term but will gain more in the long-term. Currently, they gain more if
you're fairly up to date with your software.
2. Eric never mentioned the home annual license availability for Fusion. In a
recent episode of FSCast they said that Fusion will be available as a home
annual license in January but this was not confirmed in this week's podcast.
3. I am curious as to this series of big announcements we'll hear about in
March. Here are my own guesses. Perhaps we'll see a more affordable Braille
display designed for mobile device users similar to the Orbit Reader 20. I'm
wondering if they're going to sell their own specially branded tablet with JAWS
preinstalled, kind of like an FS Surface.
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist
WWW.David-Goldfield.Com<http://WWW.David-Goldfield.Com>
