When I read the press release it didn't sound like a merger. It sounded like a buyout. It will be interesting to see what happens in the text to speech arena. When I was managing and administering servers on a variety of platforms there were some web interfaces that I couldn't get working well enough with Jaws. There were times when the Jaws cursor couldn't perform like the Window-Eyes mouse keys. This was true for the web interface for Novell Netware and some proprietary applications that resided on mainframe computers and ended up with a browser client. Sadly recently it appears as if Window-Eyes has lost some ground with Windows 10, MS Office 2016 and some browser applications. In my experience it doesn't seem as stable as it once was. It also seems to not be as robust. It would be nice if Windows had a built-in text to speech application like VoiceOver. At first blush I don't know how it would have had an impact on employment for our community. I don't think GW Micro and Freedom Scientific have a huge army of developers who are blind or who have a vision impairment. They might have some of course, but I would be surprised if they outnumber the sighted developers on staff. I, although naively, believe that if text to speech was built into the OS we would have more employment opportunities or at least an easier time in the technical areas such as Windows Server administration, management and using other Microsoft products outside of Office like SharePoint, Project, etc. Vic Pereira Project Manager, Networks and End-Users Branch Shared Services Canada / Government of Canada vic.pereira@ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tel: 204-781-5046 Gestionnaire de projet, Direction des réseaux et des utilisateurs finaux Services partagés Canada / Gouvernement du Canada vic.pereira@ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tél: 204-781-5046 -----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John G Heim Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 10:12 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Merger between VFO group and AI Squared. Governments that require thattheir own employees have accessible computers will need to define what constitutes a viable screen reader. The government of the United States already does this to a degree. A company cannot sell computers to a university in the United States unless it has a working screen reader. Narrator, for example, doesn't qualify. I'm not sure if the EU has that sort of specification. I am not a political expert but my impression is that the EU is even more open to this kind of regulation than the USA is. About 20 years ago, a group of blind advocacy groups, including the National Federation Of the Blind, issued a statement asking Microsoft to not develop narrator into a full fledged screen reader. Their reasoning was that if Microsoft included a free screen reader with it's operating system, it would drive commercial screen reader companies out of business. I was critical of the statement at the time because I felt that it discriminated against unemployed blind people and because it was only a matter of time before commercial screen readers would be undercut by free screen readers anyway. By the NFB's reasoning, nvda would be a bad thing for the blind community as a whole. So would orca for linux and Apple voiceover. On the other hand, as a delaying tactic, the NFB's action might have been pretty effective. I'm not sure we're better off though. I think we'd be better off if, instead of comparing jaws to nvda for the past several years, we were comparing Microsoft's screen reader to Apple's screen reader. The real question is enforcement. I'd hate to see the whole world depend on the NFB suing universities in order to keepsoftware companies on their toes. On 06/15/2016 08:50 AM, Ryan Shugart wrote:
As a Window-Eyes user, am I nervous? Absolutely. On the other hand though, the papers have been signed, AISquared as a business entity is no more, and there’s just not much we can do at this point. Do I have concerns? Yes. But, I don’t know what’s happening behind the closed doors, and in the end the market will shape out how it will shape out. A lot of people, myself included, have been saying the desktop screen reader market has needed a big shakeup for some time now. Well, we got it. Not quite what I was thinking but hey. For the moment we’re just in wait and see land, and things will fall as they will. I suspect this is probably just as much a shock for the devs on the JAWS side, and there’s probably as many questions going through their minds as on the Window-Eyes side. I don’t think Window-Eyes will continue as the product we know. But the same could be said for JAWS too, I have no idea what will end up happening but I predict it will be a change on both the JAWS and Window-Eyes sides. As for NVDA, I’m not sure there’s anything for them to be scared of really. I mean yes, there’s a big force now in the screen reader market, but my feeling is those who supported NVDA will continue to do so for the same reasons they always have, and NVDA will continue as a product just as it always has. And that is a good thing, it insures there’s still some competition out there. So my guess is it will be business as normal in NVDA land. And that’s fine with me. Ryan
-----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins <blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> on behalf of Darragh Ó Héiligh <d@digitaldarragh.com> Reply-To: Blind sysadmins list <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Date: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 5:38 AM To: Blind sysadmins list <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Merger between VFO group and AI Squared.
AI Squared has been merged into VFO group. I'm sure you've heard at this stage.
So, what do you think?
Are those of you who use Window Eyes worried? Do you see the VFO group retaining both Jaws and Window Eyes?
I think this has the potential to be huge news. _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins
Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins
-- -- John G. Heim; jheim@math.wisc.edu; sip://jheim@sip.linphone.org _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins