[Blindtlk] JAWS 13 is out TODAY--lucky 13

[David Andrews]

Brian:

My view won't be popular, but I will say it anyway.  Yes, JAWS, 
Window-Eyes, and System Access are expensive, but for a variety of 
reasons, their cost of doing business is high.  It is expensive to 
have to market to individual blind folks, and not a lot of money can 
be made.  It is expensive to have developers, testers, support people 
etc., that are necessary to keep a modern product current.  We do not 
have the efficiency of scale of a Microsoft, Adobe, or anybody else.

And, you are not entirely correct about competition, and price 
negotiating.  In Minnesota the state, including SSB has negotiated 
contracts with dealers that get us some money off list prices, not a 
lot, but every little bit helps.

Also, there are also alternatives now, VoiceOver on the Mac side, and 
NVDA on the PC side, and Microsoft is working on a souped up Narrator.

I predict you may get what you want, but with consequences that 
aren't necessarily good.  JAWS and Window-Eyes have tools that we can 
use to get applications to work in difficult employment situations, 
none of the other options have as good services in this area.  So we 
may get cheaper, or free products, and may be hurt on the employment front.

Dave

At 09:18 AM 10/25/2011, you wrote:
>Too bad competition hasn't reduced the price at all... 13 versions later
>(not including interim versions) and we still pay the same exorbinent  price
>for every upgrade.  And of course if you don't keep up with them every year,
>like a tireless JAWS lapdog, then you get soaked for all those interim
>version to get current.  Even Microsoft isn't this rapacious.  I don't have
>to buy every intermediary version of Microsoft office just to get the latest
>version -- I buy the latest version, and that's all.
>
>I blame the VR system in many ways, since these state run programs are the
>biggest purchasers of JAWS, and they do not negotiate for better price
>structures.  Most of us are shielded from the high cost of technology until
>we get out from under the VR umbrella, out on our own, and suddenly we have
>to pay for things ourselves and realize we're getting soaked.
>
>Meanwhile, I can buy an iPhone of MAC, and have, for the exact same price as
>my sighted peers.  Hmmm.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
>Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 9:07 PM
>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] JAWS 13 is out TODAY--lucky 13
>
>And this answers the question of how a screen reader like JAWS remains
>relevant in a world where access technologies are built in to the operating
>systems.  Neither Apple nor Microsoft is currently, nor is likely in the
>near future, to add an accessible OCR package to their built-in screen
>readers.
>
>Certainly it's doable, and the notion is obvious enough, but it's not been
>done before.
>
>Competition is good for customers-it produces innovation.
>
>Joseph
>
>
>On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 06:44:08PM -0500, David Andrews wrote:
> >
> >>
> >><http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/JAWS-whats-new.asp>Fr
> >>eedom Scientific just released JAWS 13 today
> >>
> >>One of the biggest items is Convenient OCR--for all those nasty PDF
> >>files that are inaccessible and refuse to be read...AH HAH...there is
> >>a solution now
> >>
> >>Frequently, you will encounter images that contain textual
> >>information. These can include a PDF file, the setup screen of an
> >>application, or the menu of selections for a DVD movie. While these
> >>images contain text that is readable by a sighted person, JAWS is
> >>unable to read the text as it is part of the image.
> >>
> >>The new Convenient OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature enables
> >>you to access any image on the screen that includes text.
> >>With just a few simple keystrokes, JAWS will recognize the image in a
> >>matter of seconds and activate the JAWS cursor so you can navigate the
> >>resulting text. The recognized text will be in the same location as
> >>the actual image on the screen. In order to differentiate the
> >>recognized text from other text that may be in the window, JAWS will
> >>use a different voice when it encounters the recognized text. When you
> >>activate the PC cursor, or switch to another application or dialog
> >>box, the text is removed, and you will need to perform the OCR again.
> >>
> >>To use Convenient OCR, the following layered keystrokes have been added:
> >>
> >>INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, W. Recognizes the current application window
> >>that has focus.
> >>INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, S. Recognizes the entire screen.
> >>INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, C. Recognizes the currently selected control,
> >>such as a graphical button.
> >>INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, Q. Cancels recognition while it is in progress.
> >>INSERT+SPACEBAR, O, H. Speaks a brief help message describing the
> >>commands in the OCR layer.
> >>
> >>Read about all the new features at
> >><http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/JAWS-whats-new.asp>JA
> >>WS
> >>13
> >> More info at: <http://www.yourtechvision.com>www.yourtechvision.com
> >>       Denise
> >>
> >>Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
> >>CEO, TechVision
> >>Specialist in blind technology/teaching/training
> >>email:  <mailto:deniserob at gmail.com>yourtechvision at gmail.com
> >>Website with hundreds of lessons: yourtechvision.com