Hi Joel,You're right about the rehab agencies. I had no input either on which screen reader, computer or operating system they purchased for me. My situation is unique, because my equipment was purchased for me strictly for personal purposes, not for educational or vocational purposes. So I really can't complain, because it's their money and not mine. And I have been computing for only about six months, so I'm really no tech expert. I'm just lucky that I have been able to figure things out myself or with the help of real experts like you. Fortunately, I haven't required the assistance of FS tech support yet, and hopefully, won't need to in the future. My computing needs are very modest, and I'm really quite satisfied with JAWS and Open Book.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 4:23 PM Subject: Re: authorization issues
There are a lot of reasons, Gerald. One, and an important one and verylogical, is that with the exception of some bugs in each release that happento affect the majority of the users' computers and thus receive immediateattention in the development and tech support departments, not everyone hasthe same problems or so many problems with Jaws, just depending on the specifics of their computer, their operating system, the version of Jaws, and a few other variables.It's not as if Jaws if blowing up everyone's computers all day. I do happen to have had a lot of difficult stuff happen with Jaws9, and some other people would understand quite well, but weprobably wouldn't even be having the same problems. Overall, however strangeit sounds to say it, the program works. Now, if it were a Honda Prelude instead of a screen reader, there would be a lot of returns and probably a factory recall several times a year, and a devastating review in ConsumerReports that might strike the company's death knell. But it isn't a car, andthe distinction makes a difference.Second, FS is not, I don't think, as savage and cynical as all that. I don'tknow why some people feel it is, but I think they're just frustrated andhumiliated by their dependence on the program by the time they start sayingstuff like that. Last, and this is economically critical: I think the majority of expensiveadaptive tech equipment like Jaws is bought not with the private disposable funds of all the users, but by state rehabilitation agencies. The funding isgovernment funding, and it's the kind of situation where once a vendor of something as unusual and, to all but the initiated, esoteric thing like a screen reader program (don't forget, all those freebies weren't out thereuntil recently) and a vendor ingratiates themselves, convinces the agenciesof their product's reliability and utility, it gets approved so that, for instance at the rehab agency that first bought me jaws when I'd stoppedworking at a job I'd had to drive to and use my eyes for, and my income was low,. They didn't ask me. And I couldn't have helped them research something to buy, either. It was all new to me. And Jaws was what was in their stablealready. Sure, if I'd known about Window Eyes and really had a reason torequest it, I could have lobbied for them to buy it and possibly gotten whatI requested. But usually it doesn't work that way. The applicant for such help usually is relying on the rehab counselor to know about and provide these things. I certainly was. So those are a few things to consider. This isn't a market like other markets. The same dynamics don't apply.----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerald Levy" <bwaylimited@xxxxxxxxxxx>To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:05 PM Subject: Re: authorization issues I haven't dealt with FS tech support, but if what you have experienced is really true, why would anyone use JAWS, especially since all the other commercially available screen readers are less expensive? Not to mention the ever-growing number of free screen readers like NVDA and Thunder. So how does JAWS maintain its position as the leading screen reader? I'm notdefending FS, but if they really do treat their blind and visually impairedcustomers with such callous indifference, how do they remain in business? After all, they are not the domineering monopoly that Microsoft is.----- Original Message ----- From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 2:23 PM Subject: Re: authorization issuesHI Chip, Just to say I understand exactly the sort of frustrating experiences you'redescribing below, because I've had them myself, more than ever during thisyear of Jaws 9, never mind which build. Uninstalling and reinstalling, over and over, has never rectified one single problem I've ever called techsupport for help with, and yet they've insisted on my repeating that drillover and over just as you say. At one point this year, I spent a total of something close to six hours on the phone, wrote detailed and well organized reports on my "issues" and sent them to the top of the tech support department to be reviewed before someone from Tier 2 called me, but in a couple of cases, the reps who were assigned to call me either weren't given my report to look at (which the head guy who shall remain unnamed) had emphasized to me how important and valuable my taking the time to make suchreports would be to them) or had received it but hadn't read it, and began from nothing. In one case, I insisted that the guy just sit there and readmy report while I waited, paying for long distance. That gfew cents was worth less than my time. of course, despite the intervening minutes ofdiscussion, most of what we wound up doing was me being led by the hand touninstall and reinstall five different ways, as if it always had to be some glitch I'd introduced by improperly installing and configuring jaws. Like hell. What is it, a Model you've got to know how to practically rebuild allby yourself in your own garage or have a chauffer trained as a mechanic ifyou want to drive one? That's a rhetorical question.anyway, I manage to survive with all the glitches and bugs that remain forme, and I have to admit I'm grateful for it working as well as it does, because it enable me in a way that still astonishes me and fills me with gratitude compared to the despair I felt when I began to lose my ability to see clearly enough and read a little over ten years ago. So part of me still feels as if it's a gift and a miracle.But the complaints are real, nonetheless. And if I had the money to spend,I'd consider jumping ship, too, but I can't deal with that, financially. And life will go on, not all that badly despite my annoyance. Which is a long-winded way of pumping my fist in the air and yelling "you go, boy!" Joel desite juming graatiude rebuilt configuitng configuing nd imporperly intalling instlling intduced intereducesbine gntohing.at repeated yo[exseyou're describing----- Original Message ----- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 6:32 AM Subject: RE: authorization issues Thanks Cher, but that really sounds like a problem with an early build of jaws 9. If uac caused problems in jaws, we'd all certainly know of it by now. I am very reluctant to get on the phone with jaws tech support again. I've spent many hours reinstalling everything for them on the last problem I reported. Reinstallations seems to be their *only* trouble-shooting measure. When I asked for the problem to be escalated, the person I was working with said "no", because he was the escalation he said. It seems every time I had done a reinstallation I hadn't done it quite right according to him (you didn't delete the directory afterwards using narrator; you didn't also uninstall and reinstall the video driver; you did a repair when a uninstall and reinstall would have been better, etc.). After going through many calls like that I finally stopped calling. I'm now requisitioning Window Eyes from my employer. When it comes, with it's new scripting feature with vba as it's language, I'm going to switch. I've already gotten much better pre-sales tech support from GW Micro than I've ever gotten from FS. Sorry for the soapbox, I'll get off now and will try not to climb back on. Anyone who's really dedicated to jaws is free to pass this along to the head of their tech support and/or sales; it's fine to let them know they've lost at least one customer to poor quality tech support, and to better tech support from a competitor who hadn't even sold me a product yet. And, as icing on the cake, they don't have any such copy-protection, so no authorization issues to deal with!!! Hooorrraaayyyy!!!!! (that's my current problem I just posted about solved!) And, no difference in versions, so no "professional" version to deal with for certain versions of the operating system!!!!! Hooorrraaayyyyy!!!!! Chip ------------------------------ Chip Orange Database Administrator Florida Public Service Commission Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (850) 413-6314 (Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.) ________________________________ From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cher Bosch Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 9:08 AM To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: authorization issues Not exactly the same, but similar... On a Lonova ThinkPad I set up last fall with VISTA home (premium, I think) and the first build of JAWS9, we ended up having to disable UAC to keep JAWS from switching into demo mode. If I remember, evrytime UAC came up, JAWS switched to demo. Cher"Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 7/7/2008 10:05 AMHi all, On my vista laptop I've noticed that if I switch from my wireless nic to my wired nic, my jaws authorization suddenly switches into demo mode. If I update it while using the wired nic until it's a registered copy again, then when I switch back to my wireless nic it's an unregistered demo copy again. Has anyone seen this happen? On my thinkpad laptop, which was running xp and an earlier version of jaws, I frequently switched between wired and wireless without a problem, so I'm guessing this is related to the latest build or vista, and was just wondering if anyone else is seeing this? thanks. Chip ------------------------------ Chip Orange Database Administrator Florida Public Service Commission Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (850) 413-6314 (Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.) -- 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 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/jfwIf 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 thelist 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.comJFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxTo 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/jfwIf 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 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