[nabs-l] Basic Questions About Mac versus Pc

Sat May 8 21:17:34 UTC 2010

I can speak to a few of your questions, and will leave the others who have been using Macs longer than I.

I was always a PC user, but after much frustration with viruses, computer crashes of doom, etc, I got a Mac. I've used it exclusively, (gave up Windows cold turkey as it were), since December. Here are my general impressions.

You have to not expect VoiceOver to be Jaws because Snow Leopard isn't Windows. The way it interacts with programs gives me just as much control over everything I need, (internet, music, word processing, EMail, etc), as Jaws, just in a different way. I took this out of the box, turned it on, and it was 100 percent workable. I can't speak to the changes in Voiceover since I'm a relatively new user, but I know that I don't miss Jaws at all, and I'd been using it for twelve years.

The Mail client is so easy to use, and a lot easier than Outlook to me. Of course, I find everything on the Mac very easy to understand. I think this fits in though with the general commentary that Macs are really user friendly and self explanatory. Everything was very intuitive, once I stopped trying to get things done using windows keyboard shortcuts. Multiple EMail accounts are easy to manipulate, and the RSS reader is built right in.

Voiceover is also a very customizable screen reader. For example, I have my verbosity settings set so that when I'm over a link in the browser, it beeps instead of saying "link". You can also change it so that way it says link before the link text, or link after, if that is what you want. It is easily tailored to your individual needs. I'm sure there are a lot of things that it can do which I haven't discovered yet.

Text Edit comes with the Mac, (similar to Note Pad, except I find it does a lot more than that). It has fulfilled all of my word processing needs so far, but there are accessible options for office suite applications. I don't have them, so someone else might want to expound on IWork, but I've heard great things.

Voiceover fixes usually accompany any system update, and Apple has been great at responding to accessibility requests. For example, I EMailed them after the recent ITunes update to inform them of some issues I was having. I got an EMail response in 10 minutes asking for more information. Shortly thereafter, (probably due to the fact they were getting 100 EMails a day like mine), ITunes came out and our issues were solved. It is an attitude of universal access. I've just grown to semi expect that an application will work, and I have very rarely encountered things that are inaccessible to me, (as long as they don't include flash, but I'm sure you already knew that).

The track pad commander on the MacBook Pros is also brilliant. It has gestures similar to that of the IPhone OS, and makes navigating around the system really intuitive. The internet is a breeze. I just need a few fingers, and I'm set to go.

I've also never had a problem with my Mac freezing etc. I know computer problems happen on every platform, but I've experienced none thus far. If Voiceover gets cranky, (occasionally happens if I haven't restarted in a few weeks), I just hit command f5 a few times, and it's back to normal.

It was a little overwhelming at first learning a new screen reader and a new OS, but I found that once I stuck with it, it all became natural to me. I turned on my roommate's computer the other day, and kept trying to make Jaws work with Voiceover commands. I also installed some software for her, and the process was a lot more arduous on windows than it is for me on my Mac. I plug something in, and it pretty much works with no fussing from me. This has taken a lot of the guess work out of things for me.

I hope this has helped. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll repost. If you ever want to see Voiceover in action some time, let me know. I'd be happy to demo it for you.

Briley

On May 8, 2010, at 12:46 PM, Joe Orozco wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> I keep hearing about all these wonderful things about Macs.  I was very
> interested in the iPad review on Access World, and my employer's offer to
> switch out my PC for a Mac just gets more tempting by the moment.  Still, as
> I get older I am less tolerant of drastic changes to my office assembly, and
> yet, temptations abound.
> 
> 1. In the most recent platform upgrade, how has the accessibility changed in
> terms of the screen reader?  Is the screen reader only updated with system
> upgrades, or are there ever updates between major upgrades?  If you had to
> compare Voiceover to JAWS, how does their functionality break down?  I know
> it's not fair to compare one to the other because the logic is a bit
> different, but I'm hoping you can speak to the level of manipulation you
> have over the applications in your computer.
> 
> 2. How has the compatibility changed in terms of Macs and software packages?
> I originally hesitated, because it seemed the industry was more prone to be
> compatible with PC products.
> 
> 3. How easy is it to control documents in the word processor?  Do Macs use
> their own version of MS Office, or is there a native word processor that
> makes Office documents readable?
> 
> 4. What can you tell us about their e-mail client?  Outlook has its quirks
> but is almost 100 percent accessible.  Sunbird, by contrast, would be great
> but in my opinion still had some accessibility shortcomings.  I'm wondering
> if the same is true of iCal and Mac-based applications?
> 
> 5. How much freedom do you have with Macs to go outside of iTunes?  I don't
> much care for proprietary packages unless it's unavoidable.
> 
> 6. Are hardware repairs truly limited to Apple stores?
> 
> I know the best thing is to play around with Macs yourself.  I intend to do
> that when I visit our home office in California in a month, but I'm hoping
> those of you who are daily users of the system can give up-to-date
> information since reviews can quickly become outdated.  And, I'm sure that
> even playing with a Mac for an hour or so would not truly give me a sense of
> how well they meet my daily task expectations.
> 
> Thanks for any information and/or website recommendations.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Joe
> 
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
> 
> 
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