[gui-talk] Fwd: ARTICLE: Windows 7 a dud for sight-impaired people

[Steve Pattison]

From: Steve Heidemann steve54 at internode.on.net
To: VIP-L Mail List vip-l at softspeak.com.au

G'day All,

I thought some might find this article about the Windows 7 magnifier
interesting. It is published by     APC Magazine and this is the link:

http://apcmag.com/windows_7_a_dud_for_sightimpaired_people.htm

Here is an extract:

"Windows 7 Magnifier bug stops vision impaired

Dan Warne 20 January 2009, 11:19 AM (3 hours 57 minutes ago.)

According to an analyst, Microsoft has done a slipshod job of making 
Windows
7 usable for vision impaired people.
Dr Scott Hollier of Media Access Australia tipped off APC to the 
problem.

"We were very excited when it was initially revealed that Windows 7 
would
feature a major update to its accessibility features, the first since 
the
release
of Windows 2000," Dr Hollier writes.

"The key updates include a full-screen Magnifier, and predictive text 
for
the on-screen keyboard.  Both of these products have major potential as 
in
the
past, people have had to spend thousands of dollars on assistive 
technology
software to achieve the same task.

"However, after testing the beta and following up on several enquiries,
we've discovered that major flaw in the new Magnifier feature. Although 
the
Magnifier
does indeed support full screen by pressing the Windows and '+' key, 
this
feature does not work when a high contrast colour scheme is used.  Due 
to
the
new feature being Aero-dependent, changing into the 'classic' high 
contrast
scheme, such as High Contrast Black, dumps the user back into the old
Magnifier
program."

Cheers, Steve

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Windows Live Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963