[blindLaw] SOS --Need for Testing Beta 2020 and Microsoft 2016

Mon Nov 4 05:07:49 UTC 2019

Dear Laura, all

I have followed this story by email, without commenting because I do
not have any of the software that would let me help. I use older
versions of JAWS and word, which aren't perfect but are better than
you describe together.

I do just feel compelled to say how completely unacceptable this is
though and that steps should be taken regarding Microsoft in
particular, which now touts itself as being committed to
accessibility, so far as I know.

Kind regards

Ger

On 11/3/19, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Shannon,
>
> It's the same problem.  365 should be fixed within the week.  It's not
> the number of track changes.  It's when there are a certain
> combination of changes--a format change along with a comment, that
> causes word to crash.  The problem is word not jaws.  I know this,
> intimately, because it was me, not Microsoft, who literally tested for
> hours and hours and hours with my colleague to figure out what was
> causing the issue.  Then more hours still to create a test document to
> send with no sensitive information.  We got no thanks or compensation,
> of course, just a promise to get it fixed which never arose for my
> version of Word.  But since you're using the holy version, the fix
> should be coming soon if the Jaws update doesn't do it ofr you.
>
> Laura
>
> On 11/3/19, Shannon Dillon via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi again,
>> I forgot to say that I am working an office 365. So this problem is
>> occurring in office 365 as well and I will confirm the update when I turn
>> my
>> computer on later today. But I usually update right away. The problem I am
>> referring to is that when I open the document full of track changes, word
>> stops responding and my computer basically freezes. Refreshing the screen
>> does not help. Restarting jaws does not help. Restarting the computer does
>> not help. Oddly enough, I noticed that when I open order documents that I
>> worked on a couple months ago full of track changes, the same thing does
>> not
>> happen. So I’m not sure what to make of that.
>>  Laura, is there someone in particular you are working with at Freedom
>> Scientific? I’m happy to report what I found. Like the rest of you, it’s
>> really hard to send anything out that I work on. So I will have to find
>> time
>> to try to create a document  that exhibits  the same problems.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Nov 3, 2019, at 8:45 AM, Shannon Dillon <shannonldillon at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I just spent the last three days dealing with this as well. I finally
>>> resorted to closing jaws, opening the document, then opening jaws. At
>>> least then I can open the document. But I still can’t tell where
>>> deletions
>>> and insertions begin and end. I have to set it so that only the
>>> insertions
>>> and unchanged text are read. Then you can’t see
>>> The text that was deleted. But at least you can see the current text.
>>> This
>>> is really impacting my work as well. And I have also noticed that when I
>>> called Freedom Scientific, the technical support workers have  no clue
>>> what track changes are or how to use it. So you know they can’t test it.
>>> And they certainly can’t help me troubleshoot.
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Oct 11, 2019, at 11:47 AM, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw
>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> The nightmarish scenario of Jaws reading all material,both old and
>>>> new, in a track changed document seems to have arisen with a vengeance
>>>> as of the late September release.  I have tried restarting jaws,
>>>> restarting the computer, refreshing the screen, and switching to no
>>>> markup.  Nothing works.
>>>>
>>>> My ability to work quickly and reliably has just been ground to a
>>>> screeching halt.  Why not simply migrate back to an earlier update,
>>>> you might ask?  Well, my friends, it's because **that** update was
>>>> causing heavily track changed documents to crash as soon as the
>>>> document was opened.  And how did Vispero come to know that fact?
>>>> Because they tested it and identified hhe problem and committed
>>>> themselves to fixing it as soon as possible?  No, of course not.
>>>> Because my coworkers and I spent hours, literally hours, isolating the
>>>> problem, creating a test document with nonsensitive information that
>>>> replicated it, and sending it to them.  I am truly at my whits end.  I
>>>> am a fully-employed person with a disability working at one of the
>>>> most stressful and time consuming jobs in our profession.  And yet,
>>>> here I am, using my work time to literally sit on the phone and
>>>> **explain**, yes, **EXPLAIN, step-by-step, to Vispero employees how to
>>>> **TURN ON Track CHANGES**, because they are so unfamiliar with this
>>>> concept that they don't even know how to do it.  I do not have the
>>>> time to take on a second full-time job just so I can do my first one.
>>>> None of us do.  This is utterly unacceptable.  We need our leadership
>>>> to step in now.  Stop bringing Microsoft to national conventions to
>>>> wax eloquent about how much they care about accessibility if in fact
>>>> they don't.  If in fact they are committed to not assisting at all
>>>> with products that people still pay them to suppor, products that the
>>>> entire federal government uses, products that just ask the blind to
>>>> deal with it or risk losing their jobs.  Stop touting Jaws as if it's
>>>> the best thing since sliced bread if, one week into the Supreme Court
>>>> term, I now effectively cannot do my job, no, not have a harder time
>>>> doing my job, but cannot do my job, because no one is testing this
>>>> stuff before updates are released.  I am just incensed.
>>>>
>>>> I also need someone to test whether this problem is occurring on Beta
>>>> 2020 with Word 2016.  I cannot get beta 2020 installed on my computer
>>>> here.  But I need to verify whether it's fixed in that release.  I
>>>> swear, if they try making me wait until December to fix this, I'm
>>>> going to need some major reinforcements.
>>>>
>>>> Now please excuse me while I quickly go angry cry in the bathroom, put
>>>> on my nice happy brave face again, and resign myself to spending
>>>> thrice as much time on my work as I needed to spend yesterday.  Your
>>>> prayers are appreciated.
>>>>
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>>
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>
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