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

Gerard Sadlier gerard.sadlier at gmail.com
Mon Nov 4 05:11:22 UTC 2019


I should add how sorry I am for Laura and other colleagues and that I
completely understand their frustrations!

On 11/4/19, Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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