[macvoiceover] Re: Fwd: Microsoft office 2008 for macintosh. please read this
- From: "David Poehlman" <david.poehlman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:14:02 -0500
All well and good, but if ms wIf you look at most of the jaws scripts, you
find out in a hurry that many have not been updated since the beginning of
time and that was before microsoft started throwing bones.
ere doing it right in the first place, the screen readers wouldnot have to
jump through any hoops to make it work even if the beginning of the solution
comes from ms.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Siegel" <windowbridge@xxxxxxx>
To: <macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 11:57 AM
Subject: [macvoiceover] Re: Fwd: Microsoft office 2008 for macintosh. please
read this
This is the *only* message I'll send on this topic, because it
disgusts me just too much and I don't wish to get carried away.
Saying that fs works their bottoms off to make ms products accessible
is like saying that the subway engineeres work their fingers to the
bone making their trains accessible.
What fs does, is to claim ms improvements as fs upgrades.
I.E. ms adds a new api for accessing this or that, fs adds a script to
jaws to use that api, then announces to the whole world that now jaws
works with so much more software, when in actuallity all they did was
wrap something that already exists into a new layer, and called it
their own.
There are so many examples of this I can't even count them all. Add
to this the fact that for some eason (I've never figured out why/how)
fs manages to find out about these apis months before the rest of the
developer community does, and you've got the recipe for why fs claims
they've added this or that feature before any other screen reader.
I did ask them about this once, and all I got was the cold shoulder.
I don't mind them saying features have been added, but when those
features aren't actually added by them, but only grafted on via
someone else's work, then you see why I find it irritating.
I've always stated that jaws is really not a screen reader, it's a
script engine that just happens to focuse on accessibility.
Remove all the jaws scripts (including the ones that come with it by
default) and what's left wouldn't read the startup screen of it's own
product.
Now, to prevent a flame war, I will add tht there's nothing wrong with
tis approach, I'm just tired of seeing all the hype about what jaws
supports, what it adds every release, and so on, while other screen
readers who actually do real work get nothing.
I've called fs technical support exactly 3 times.
Each time, I've left the call no closer to a solution than I was when
I called in the first place.
(even in one case telling me what I was having happen was impossible)
Sorry, it's not impossible if it's happening folks.
So, there's my entire seminar on the topic, do what you like with it.
On Jan 23, 2008, at 6:47 AM, Shaun Jones wrote:
> Yeah, Microsoft isn't accessible, JAWS is. The FS guys have a
> product that needs to work on the surface, so they work their
> bottoms off to do this in order to sell JAWS and other products. If
> Windows has a problem FS has to wait until Microshaft fixes it
> before FS can begin work on the problem.
> On Jan 22, 2008, at 8:32 PM, David Poehlman wrote:
>
>> Microsoft has been shamming the assistive technology community for
>> years and
>> throwing money around like it's watter to underline their point but
>> at the
>> end of the day, how much of microsoft is really accessible and how
>> much of
>> it is accessible because the little guys sweatted bullets and
>> hacked into
>> software and operating systems to make it happen.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Hess" <johnythehess@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:21 PM
>> Subject: [macvoiceover] Re: Fwd: Microsoft office 2008 for
>> macintosh. please
>> read this
>>
>>
>> Cheryl, you raise some very valid points and I don't have an answer
>> for that. Perhaps in our minds it's too late but in my opinion any
>> opportunity we have to share our concerns is a valid one. If anyone
>> knows about the need for accessibility it is certainly Microsoft.
>> They have made changes in windows apps to accommodate this need. the
>> name "Microsoft accessibility" says it all doesn't it?
>> On Jan 22, 2008, at 7:49 PM, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
>>
>>> I'm sorry but this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Is Microsoft
>>> trying to say they are in the dark about what the problems are and
>>> need us to tell them about it? The developers were certainly able to
>>> turn on voiceover and see what the issues were. Had they asked us
>>> for this feedback before 08 was released I could see it but why now
>>> when the cow is already out of the barn so to speak? I could also
>>> understand it had it not ben reported on this list that office 08
>>> was expected to be accessible. Likde David, I'm not shooting the
>>> messenger and i hope this isn't a sham but I have to say I have
>>> definite doubts.
>>>
>>
>> John W. Hess & Barclay the WonderLab
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Click on the link below to go to our homepage.
>>> http://www.icanworkthisthing.com
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>>
>
>>
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>
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