[Blindmath] Computers and data analysis software

[Michael Whapples]

I would basically agree with that.

A few additional things to add.
* Remember with modern Macs you can install Windows on it as well 
(either in a virtual machine or directly on the system using bootcamp). 
This means you can have the advantages of both platforms and just buying 
a Windows license isn't that much in the long term. Also you can choose 
which version of Windows to use.
* I know you mentioned Jaws, but don't forget about the WindowEyes and 
Office scheme which means you can get a free copy of WindowEyes on a 
system with Office 2010 or 2013 installed. You may want another screen 
reader but if you have one of those office versions then you may as well 
have WindowEyes to add to the toolkit.

Michael Whapples
On 06/03/2014 04:37, Andy B. wrote:
> Windows 8/8.1 can be used completely from a keyboard. It does use a touch
> interface, but no worries from a keyboard point of view. The good thing is
> that JAWS 15 supports touch input. Of course, it is limited in its gestures,
> but it's a good starting point. If for some reason, you had to use a touch
> interface, and don't have a touchscreen display, then you can turn on touch
> cursor in JAWS.
> I can't say much for SAS or SPS on either OS, but I do love my MAC. It is a
> hard core fight between it and Windows. The only reason at this point that I
> even use Windows is do to my degree program at school. All I can say, is to
> experiment a little. If SAS and SPS have trials, download them for each
> platform, then take them through their paces. I have found some things work
> better on a MAC than in Windows, and other things work better in Windows
> than a MAC.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
> Silverman
> Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:12 PM
> To: social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org
> Cc: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Blindmath] Computers and data analysis software
>
> Hi all,
>
> I just got a postdoc at the University of Washington Department of
> Rehabilitation Medicine which will start this summer! (Yay!) The job will be
> data analysis-intensive. They will provide me a computer to use in my
> office, but I will have to negotiate screen readers with them, and I may
> decide to buy a second computer to do data analysis at home. (My current
> data analysis computer is more than seven years old and I can't trust it to
> meet my needs for much longer). For my own computer, I prefer a portable one
> and the smaller the better.
> So I have a few questions about your experiences:
>
> 1. Anyone had luck using SAS, SPSS or Mplus on a Mac with VoiceOver?
> Or if I go that route, should I buckle down and learn R?
>
> 2. Anyone know if the current version of SAS (I think it's 9.4) is still
> accessible? I've been using SAS 9.2 for years, and it's great, but I've
> heard that the later versions of SAS put all kinds of annoying graphs into
> the output. Is all that stuff still accessible or should I switch to SPSS?
>
> 3. How user-friendly is Windows 8 with the latest version of JAWS? I hear
> Windows 8 involves some kind of touch input which scares me a bit.
>
> Thanks for any advice!
> Best,
> Arielle
>
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