[il-talk] Huge News from the world of Adaptive Technology

[Bill Reif]

As Bob and I were talking yesterday, I had actually speculated that window eyes, not jaws, would continue to be the free offering through which Microsoft mad it's office products accessible. I have speculated that jaws would continue to be the products marketed to government and business organizations, thus continuing the mission represented in its acronym "job access with speech. There is probably not much consumer screen reading market left, given the popularity of the iPhone and NVDA.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 16, 2016, at 3:27 PM, David Andrews via il-talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> That is mere speculation.  Nothing has been written, that I am aware of, that even implies that JAWS would be available in a similar manner to Window-Eyes.  In fact, I would be shocked if such a thing happened.  JAWS represents too much the revenue of FS/VFO to do so.
> 
> Dave
> 
> At 01:57 PM 6/15/2016, Hansen, Robert A. via il-talk wrote:
>> According to Bill Reif, this would allow JAWS to have access to the Window Eyes arrangement with Microsoft.  This most likely will drastically improve things.  Reif and I came up with these possibilities.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 6/15/2016 9:41 AM, David Meyer via il-talk wrote:
>>> There will still be some alternatives out there for screen readers. There is
>>> NVDA which is free, and System Access which can be had for a one time fee.
>>> Though I'm not familiar with what the price for System Access is now, it was
>>> around $400 when I purchased it. I wonder if this new arrangement will
>>> change the free offer for Window Eyes?
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: il-talk [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Edward
>>> Birmingham via il-talk
>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:43 PM
>>> To: 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'
>>> Cc: Edward Birmingham
>>> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Huge News from the world of Adaptive Technology
>>> 
>>> I'm not a fan of no competition.  One company doing everthing does not bode
>>> well for affordable pricing.  This takes away the opportunity to shop around
>>> for the best deal!
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: il-talk [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bill Reif via
>>> il-talk
>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 1:42 PM
>>> To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List
>>> Cc: Bill Reif
>>> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Huge News from the world of Adaptive Technology
>>> 
>>> VFO is a company that owns Freedom Scientific, the maker of JAWS, Optelec,
>>> and several other companies. AI Squared recently acquired GW Micro, maker of
>>> Window-eyes, and also owns Zoomtext. VFO now has acquired AI Squared. The
>>> wayw things are going, there may soon be one company that provides all
>>> access technology for the blind. I wonder whether this was a friendly
>>> aquisition, and whether Window-eyes development will continue.
>>> 
>>> Cordially,
>>> Bull
>>> 
>>>> On 6/14/2016 1:22 PM, Mary Willows via il-talk wrote:
>>>> What is VFO?
>>>> 
>>>> The National Federation of the blind knows that blindness is not the
>>>> characteristic that defines you or your future.  Every day we raise
>>>> the expectations of blind people because low expectations create
>>>> obstacles between blind people and our dreams.
>>>> You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.
>>>> 
>>>> National Federation of the Blind of California (NFBC)
>>>> 3934 Kern Court
>>>> Pleasanton, CA 94588
>>>> 925-462-8575
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you,
>>>> Mary Willows, President NFBC
>>>> mwillows at sbcglobal.net
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: il-talk [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ray
>>>> Campbell via il-talk
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 7:51 AM
>>>> To: leadership at acblists.org; acb-l at acblists.org; icb-l at acblists.org;
>>>> icb-board at acblists.org; iac at acblists.org; Blind Information Technology
>>>> Specialists discussion list; il-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>> Cc: Ray Campbell
>>>> Subject: [il-talk] Huge News from the world of Adaptive Technology
>>>> 
>>>> All I can say right now is wow!  This is huge news from the world of
>>>> Adaptive Technology and at least for me, very unexpected.  I haven't
>>>> processed this fully yet to put my thoughts and opinions together on it.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> AI Squared Joins VFO Group, read more here:
>>>> http://www.aisquared.com/news/ai-squared-joins-vfo/.
>>>> 
>>>> Ray Campbell
>>>> ray153056 at gmail.com
> 
> 
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