[Electronics-talk] Mac vs. PC

Tue Feb 22 22:36:48 UTC 2011

One of the other members of blind-l asked Microsoft Accessibility why 
Microsoft's mac suite products continue to be inaccessible and was told 
that Microsoft Accessibility could not go over into that other division 
and tell those programmers how to do programming.  Apparently Microsoft 
Accessibility's charter is strictly limited to the Windows product line. 
On Tue, 22 Feb 2011, Jim Barbour wrote:

> One thing that is not accessible on the Mac is the Microsoft suite of
> products.  There are a few substitutes, but none of them is perfect,
> especially in a collaborative environment, where you need to be able
> to make surgical changes to a document, without the rest of the
> document changing.
> 
> Jim
> 
> On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 12:52:18PM -0500, Jorge Paez wrote:
> > Andy:
> > It depends.
> > There are some stuff--such as gaming (yes, there are games accessible for the blind),
> > and such at which Winodws has a better chance simply because its more open.
> > 
> > But, Mac can serve any and all basic needs as an exclusive system.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Feb 22, 2011, at 12:03 PM, Baracco, Andrew W wrote:
> > 
> > > I joined a blind Mac users list to get an idea of how functional the Mac
> > > is for blind users.  And, it seems like just about everyone on that list
> > > uses Windows in addition to the Mac, either by having a separate Windows
> > > PC, or by using Windows on the same PC, either by using a duel boot
> > > system, or by running Windows under a virtual machine.  Thus one can
> > > infer that, at least as far as a blind user is concerned, the Mac does
> > > not afford enough functionality to use it exclusively.
> > > 
> > > Andy
> > > 
> > > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
> > > [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of louie
> > > Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 11:02 AM
> > > To: Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances
> > > Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] mac vs PC
> > > 
> > > Got a Mac and not going back.
> > > 
> > > On Feb 19, 2011, at 10:57 AM, Priscilla Garces wrote:
> > > 
> > >> I'm a totally blind user of both PC and the Mac. At first it took some
> > > time to really figure out the mac, but now its pretty intuitive. I would
> > > be flat out lying if I said mac is so easy on the first try, no, not
> > > really folks; it does take some getting used to the different settings .
> > > On top of the different way it is set up, the cursor is different on the
> > > mac than on the PC. on the PC the cursor is to the right of the text,
> > > but on the mac the cursor is between the 2 letters. for instance, if you
> > > spelled mac the cursor on windows is to the right of the letter c and on
> > > the mac the cursor is between the a and c. In windows jaws would be
> > > saying m a c every time you arrow to the left or right which is more
> > > accurate when proofreading. On the mac, the cursor is between the
> > > letters which makes it confusing and you then end up deleting the wrong
> > > letter, but you can set the cursor to work like windows under the
> > > preferences for voiceover. It took me a while to figure the settings but
> > > I can now do that with no problem. The advantage of owning the mac is
> > > the cost effective solution and the in person technical support you
> > > receive with added training at there centers whereas windows you have to
> > > sometimes send out parts of a computer and if you need tech support you
> > > have to wait a long time especially if you have to deal with jaws and
> > > it's flukes. besides the in person tech support and servicing of parts
> > > between both PC and mac, on the PC you can only use the keyboard with
> > > jaws and thus it takes longer sometimes to complete the needed tasks
> > > where as on the mac you can use the trackpad as a mouse and you can
> > > actually press on any part of the trackpad and it will read the text on
> > > the screen. + navigation with the trackpad is faster and more so if you
> > > use the keyboard in addition to the mac. Voice over has cool voices and
> > > are more up to date whereas jaws have the monotone robotic voices which
> > > makes me personally want to fall asleep when reading tedious amounts of
> > > documents as a college students. I love alex because his voice is a lot
> > > more humanlike and has a variety of expression. In that case I would
> > > just say that you have to decide on what you feel more comfortable. But
> > > me personally after the mac i'm not looking back except when I work at
> > > an office using a PC but for personal use, that's a different story.
> > > What is your view on the use of the Mac verses PC?
> > >> I'm just curious to know if some of you share the same opinion or have
> > > something similar.
> > >> 
> > >> Thank you very much.
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> Priscilla Garces
> > >> priscillagarces1987 at hotmail.com
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> Electronics-talk mailing list
> > >> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> > >> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> > >> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> > > Electronics-talk:
> > >> 
> > > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/louiem
> > > ost%40wavecable.com
> > > 
> > > louie
> > > louiemost at wavecable.com
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Electronics-talk mailing list
> > > Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> > > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> > > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> > > Electronics-talk:
> > > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/andrew
> > > .baracco%40va.gov
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Electronics-talk mailing list
> > > Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> > > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> > > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Electronics-talk:
> > > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/jorgeapaez%40mac.com
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Electronics-talk mailing list
> > Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Electronics-talk:
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/jbar%40barcore.com
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Electronics-talk mailing list
> Electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Electronics-talk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/jdashiel%40shellworld.net
> 
> 