anyone using a mac to do their job?

Scott Granados

11 Jul 2010 11 Jul '10

10:53 p.m.

So I'm do for a laptop refresh at work and they have decided to give me the option of a new I7 Mac. Is Voice Over ready for the job site? How does it work with things like ssh, rt tracker via http, and what about this windows under parallels thing? I keep hearing about VM fusion. Anyone who could give me a primer I'd really appreciate it. What's the ideal configuration I should shoot for? Thank you Scott

Show replies by date

Sean Murphy

12 Jul 12 Jul

11:36 a.m.

Scott, I have started myself to research into this area. The Web browsing from my research is quite good. Braille support is present out of the box so is magnification. I do not know about SSH sessions. The virtual environments are quite good. VM fusion I understand is better than parallels. Below is one resource I have found other than the Apple site. http://www.lioncourt.com/category/apple-inc/voiceover/ One thing I have discovered. The approach Apple has taken to accessibility is very different than windows. that is, if the application is accessible and the user documentation says "drag and drop" something. Then the Voice-Over user must do that. I hope this info helps. It will take a while for you to learn it and having virtualisation will assist with the learning curve. Sean

Frank Ventura

13 Jul 13 Jul

9:47 a.m.

I have had pretty good luck with VMWare fusion on my Mac Book Pro for times where I need to do something in Windows. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Sean Murphy Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 7:36 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] anyone using a mac to do their job? Scott, I have started myself to research into this area. The Web browsing from my research is quite good. Braille support is present out of the box so is magnification. I do not know about SSH sessions. The virtual environments are quite good. VM fusion I understand is better than parallels. Below is one resource I have found other than the Apple site. http://www.lioncourt.com/category/apple-inc/voiceover/ One thing I have discovered. The approach Apple has taken to accessibility is very different than windows. that is, if the application is accessible and the user documentation says "drag and drop" something. Then the Voice-Over user must do that. I hope this info helps. It will take a while for you to learn it and having virtualisation will assist with the learning curve. Sean _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Sean Murphy

12 Jul 12 Jul

11:36 a.m.

John G. Heim

1:58 p.m.

I bought a Mac mini about a year and a half ago. Personally, I am disappointed. Just to be clear, I am absolutly not saying the Mac is junk. Its just that its not the miracle I had expected based on what I'd heard. First of all, I believe it takes significantly more keystrokes to get anything done with voiceover than it does with Windows & jaws. I think even the combination of Windows & nvda has voiceover beat. But I argued with experts on a voiceover email list and some of the real, hard core experts insisted that I was wrong. I tried to do a keystroke count comparison for various common ttasks but it didn't work out. I think the Mac advocates were being unfair and thought I was a Mac basher. I'm not a Mac basher, of course. I spent $600 on the Mac mini and I'd have been thrilled if it was as good or better than Windows & jaws. I'll admit I might be wrong but I just don't think voiceover is as efficient as jaws. Secondly, I was disappointed with Macos over all. I expected everything to be so easy when compared to Windows because I'd heard for so many years about how friendly the Mac is. Honestly, I don't think a Mac is *that* much friendlier than a Windows PC. Probably my best example is that there is no way in Macos to redirect your line-in to your speakers. So if you plug an analog audio source into your line-in, you can't listen to it. You have to download and install an app. And that's another example -- you're going to have to learn how to install things on a Mac. You don't just double click on the download and its done. It seems to me that I ran across many little things like that. No one thing is a big deal. But maybe its just that I had unrealistic expectations based on hype. Still, trying to be as fair as possible, I just don't think MacOs is all that much easier to use than Windows. So if you're a Windows user, I wouldn't recommend switching to a Mac just because it comes with a built in screen reader. If you don't want to pay for a screen reader, I'd recommend nvda. On the other hand, if you're a systems admin, it can't hurt to learn about Macos. IPhones come with voiceover so you'd open up a whole new group of devices to yourself by becoming familiar with macos and voiceover. I fully intend to get an IPhone someday soon. But first I need to convince my wife that I'm not going to lose it. But a year and a halfafter buying a Mac mini, I am still using Windows and jaws every day. I even took the Mac mini with me when I went to get a new guide dog because I knew I'd *have* to use the Mac every day for 3 weeks. But I still just never got to the point where I thought it was as nice as Windows and jaws. So my opinion is that there are certain benefits to owning a Mac but I wouldn't switch to a Mac for the sake of efficiency. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Granados" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 5:53 PM Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] anyone using a mac to do their job?

...

So I'm do for a laptop refresh at work and they have decided to give me the option of a new I7 Mac. Is Voice Over ready for the job site? How does it work with things like ssh, rt tracker via http, and what about this windows under parallels thing? I keep hearing about VM fusion. Anyone who could give me a primer I'd really appreciate it. What's the ideal configuration I should shoot for?

Thank you Scott

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Troy Hergert

2:22 p.m.

This has been my exact experience as well. I had in store training with trainers who new voice over quite well, but I became overwelmed with the amount of keystrokes to accomplish basic tasks. I especially found it overwelming in Mail. Adding contacts, addressing a message etcetera. ----- Original Message ----- From: "John G. Heim" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:58 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] anyone using a mac to do their job?

...

I bought a Mac mini about a year and a half ago. Personally, I am disappointed. Just to be clear, I am absolutly not saying the Mac is junk. Its just that its not the miracle I had expected based on what I'd heard.

First of all, I believe it takes significantly more keystrokes to get anything done with voiceover than it does with Windows & jaws. I think even the combination of Windows & nvda has voiceover beat. But I argued with experts on a voiceover email list and some of the real, hard core experts insisted that I was wrong. I tried to do a keystroke count comparison for various common ttasks but it didn't work out. I think the Mac advocates were being unfair and thought I was a Mac basher. I'm not a Mac basher, of course. I spent $600 on the Mac mini and I'd have been thrilled if it was as good or better than Windows & jaws. I'll admit I might be wrong but I just don't think voiceover is as efficient as jaws.

Secondly, I was disappointed with Macos over all. I expected everything to be so easy when compared to Windows because I'd heard for so many years about how friendly the Mac is. Honestly, I don't think a Mac is *that* much friendlier than a Windows PC. Probably my best example is that there is no way in Macos to redirect your line-in to your speakers. So if you plug an analog audio source into your line-in, you can't listen to it. You have to download and install an app. And that's another example -- you're going to have to learn how to install things on a Mac. You don't just double click on the download and its done. It seems to me that I ran across many little things like that. No one thing is a big deal. But maybe its just that I had unrealistic expectations based on hype. Still, trying to be as fair as possible, I just don't think MacOs is all that much easier to use than Windows.

So if you're a Windows user, I wouldn't recommend switching to a Mac just because it comes with a built in screen reader. If you don't want to pay for a screen reader, I'd recommend nvda. On the other hand, if you're a systems admin, it can't hurt to learn about Macos. IPhones come with voiceover so you'd open up a whole new group of devices to yourself by becoming familiar with macos and voiceover. I fully intend to get an IPhone someday soon. But first I need to convince my wife that I'm not going to lose it.

But a year and a halfafter buying a Mac mini, I am still using Windows and jaws every day. I even took the Mac mini with me when I went to get a new guide dog because I knew I'd *have* to use the Mac every day for 3 weeks. But I still just never got to the point where I thought it was as nice as Windows and jaws. So my opinion is that there are certain benefits to owning a Mac but I wouldn't switch to a Mac for the sake of efficiency.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Granados" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 5:53 PM Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] anyone using a mac to do their job?

...
So I'm do for a laptop refresh at work and they have decided to give me the option of a new I7 Mac. Is Voice Over ready for the job site? How does it work with things like ssh, rt tracker via http, and what about this windows under parallels thing? I keep hearing about VM fusion. Anyone who could give me a primer I'd really appreciate it. What's the ideal configuration I should shoot for?

Thank you Scott

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

__________ NOD32 5271 (20100712) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com

5182

Age (days ago)

5184

Last active (days ago)

List overview

Download

5 comments

5 participants

participants (5)

Frank Ventura
John G. Heim
Scott Granados
Sean Murphy
Troy Hergert