I agree with the observation on how FS does in fact listen to good constructive feedback and suggestions. I've had more than a few suggested improvements show up in subsequent builds and have also been called directly by senior development folks regarding particular issues. I don't know what I'd do without the sophisticated features in JAWS as contrasted with any other screen reader I've worked with. inevitably, with more sophisticated development and scope of access comes more bugs and developmental growing pains. Frankly I'd rather put up with these and have a program like JAWS mostly keeping up with a radically evolving general application market, as opposed to being limited to a nice stable simple screen reader without much flexibility. there are more and more of the latter out there but still nothing with the scope of JAWS. I believe we all need to be demanding customers, even frustrated customers at times, but I also think our purposes are not well served by Whomping on FS indiscriminately when a new build has a few twitches to work through. Be constructive and specific and remember that if all you are looking for is a simple steady screen reader there are options besides JAWS. Frankly, I aprreciate the push. Keep on keepin on Freedom Scientific.... -----Original Message----- From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard B. McDonald Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 2:11 PM To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: A little Love for Freedom Scientific HERE HERE! At least they are trying - for crying out loud! Rich -----Original Message----- From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marquette, Ed Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 7:24 PM To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: A little Love for Freedom Scientific Apparently the latest "update" to JAWS 12 has some issues. I haven't installed yet. I usually wait, and am genuinely grateful to the brave souls on this list who pioneer new releases, even beta releases -- and report. A tip of the hat! We should remember that Freedom Scientific is certainly not the only software company that fixes five problems with the software and, in the process, breaks three things that used to work. Apple and Microsoft are notorious, probably even worse than Freedom Scientific. Remember Vista? The point here, however, was to mention something I would recommend to everyone. Over the weekend, I was scrolling through the Freedom Scientific Website and found a place where comments were said to be welcome. So, I sent in two suggestions: 1. In Text Analyzer (an awesome tool if you haven't tried it) I suggested that it would be helpful if it would find and identify stray tabs embedded in text, including fill-in blanks created with tabs and the underline function. Text Analyzer now says font change, which is accurate, but not entirely complete, and it says nothing about plain old embedded tabs. 2. I mentioned something Freedom Scientific broke in version 11. In MS Word, instead of reading out the automatic cross-references, the program cursor reads the internal reference code, a lengthy set of meaningless digits. The cross-references read fine with the JAWS cursor. So it can be done, and it used to work in JAWS 10. Well, to my astonishment, on Monday morning, I received a call from Freedom Scientific -- not an automatic-reply email message -- a real person. Even better, it was someone from Technical Support, Escalation Division. In other words, it was someone really knowledgeable. We had a lengthy discussion, and I was asked to send sample files illustrating the problems, which I did. We often, yours truly included, find ourselves ready and anxious to bash someone or a company for screw-ups. Sometimes, it is just good to share something publicly when that person or company gets it right -- or at least really tries. A cheer for Freedom Scientific. Now, about those problems in this recent release ... I. Edward Marquette Direct Dial: 816.502.4646 Mobile: 816.812.0088 Google Voice: 408.692.5640 Facsimile: 816.960.0041 Kutak Rock LLP 1010 Grand Boulevard Suite 500 Kansas City, MO 64106 ed.marquette@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ############################################################################ ################################# ANY FEDERAL TAX ADVICE CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE SHOULD NOT BE USED OR REFERRED TO IN THE PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING OF ANY ENTITY, INVESTMENT PLAN OR ARRANGEMENT, AND SUCH ADVICE IS NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN TO BE USED, AND CANNOT BE USED, BY A TAXPAYER FOR THE PURPOSE OF AVOIDING PENALTIES UNDER THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE. ############################################################################ ################################# This E-mail message is confidential, is intended only for the named recipient(s) above and may contain information that is privileged, attorney work product or otherwise protected by applicable law. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender at 402-346-6000 and delete this E-mail message. Thank you. ############################################################################ ################################# -- JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/ Scripting mailing list: http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw Alternative archives located at: http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/ Scripting mailing list: http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw Alternative archives located at: http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/ Scripting mailing list: http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw Alternative archives located at: http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx