[nfbcs] Mac Accessibility

[Brett Winches]

Steve, here is something apprapoe of this thread from a colleague at our agency.  

Hi Brett,


Congratulations on the new Mac!
I tried using VoiceOver, the standard Mac screen-reader software, and it was ok, but not great, especially with PDFs and Word documents. So, I purchased VisioVoice from Origin Instruments
http://shop.orin.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_8&products_id=30


I can't compare it to Jaws or ZoomText or other software for Windows, since I've never used a Windows box, but it seems to work pretty well. There are a few software items that I've found it clashes with, and makes the Mac hang (eg, don't use google earth and visiovoice! I would guess that this is not a common problem, since there aren't many blind people who want to use google earth - but my colleagues send me latitudes and longitudes for instrument locations in google earth files - arrggg, smile).


The other alternative it to get Parallels, which simulates a Windows environment. You can set it up either (i) so you have some Parallels workspaces, and some Mac workspaces running simultaneously, or (ii) so that you booth the machine in either Windows or Mac mode. I have been told that ZoomText and Jaws will run on the Mac if you use Parallels to simulate Windows.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 7:41 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list; NFBCS
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Mac Accessibility

Joe,

Dean Martineau's advice is sound, get in touch with some MAC users via the list he mentions.  If there are MAC users on these lists, though, by all means share your experiences.

>From a technical standpoint, VoiceOver is not JFW or Window-Eyes.  That 
>does not mean that it may not perform as well in some circumstances and 
>it should not be
disregarded by any means.  However, the environment is different and the approach is different.  VoiceOver depends more exclusively on applications following the rules, so to speak.  Apple believes that this will work on the MAC because they have more control over the applications that run on the MAC.  Whether that is true only time will tell.  Therefore, it is important that you find out what applications are being used on the MAC.  If applications are being used that won't work with VoiceOver, then it probably is not worth making the switch.  It is my understanding that Microsoft for the MAC does not work with VoiceOver, for example.  

You do not have to install anything for VoiceOver to work providing the MAC is running a version of the operating system that is not too old.  Pretty much any MAC purchased or updated during the past couple of years will have VoiceOver on it.  You can toggle it on and off by pressing COMAND F5.  The "Command" key is simply another sort of shift key available on the MAC.  Pressing that same key combination will turn VoiceOver off.

In addition, there are ways to run Windows programs on a MAC.  I have definitely heard of people running Window-Eyes with Windows apps on the MAC.  However, this does not let you use JFW or Window-Eyes with MAC applications.  If you can't use the MAC software that your co-workers are using with VoiceOver, then I question the advantage of using a MAC to run Windows applications.  

Now, I have a challenge for you.  Since you are going to do some research, how about coming back and sharing what you learned with these lists.  This is a subject that is interesting to many people, and with VoiceOver out there, there will be more people considering making this move.  While I know there are gaps, there seems to be a lot of satisfied users,.  It would be helpful to know what the gaps are and where the MAC works well for us.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 28 May 2009 00:35:09 -0400, Joe Orozco wrote:

>Hello all,

>Forgive the cross post.  I need information from former PC users who 
>are now using the Mac environment as their primary operating system.  My questions:

>1. How steep is the learning curve moving from Mac to PC?

>2. Is Firefox available to the Mac environment, and are there any 
>limitations to the browser in this environment?

>3. What general limitations have you discovered using Mac moving from 
>the PC?

>4. Is Voice Over built into the Mac system.  If not, how much is it, 
>and where is it found?

>5. How often is the screen reader for the Mac OS updated?  How 
>comparable is Voice Over to JAWS?  What kind of speech does Voice Over use?

>6. How easy is it to exchange documents between PC and Mac machines?

>I hope someone can help me address some or all of these points.  I've 
>picked up an organization who insists on using Mac computers.  I would 
>rather stick to the PC.  I'm not impressed with JAWS a lot of times, 
>but it's what I know.  That said, I have a Mac laptop headed to me, and 
>I suppose I had better learn how to adopt to the new environment real 
>quick-like.  I would appreciate any and all advice you can provide.

>Many thanks in advance.

>Regards,

>Joe Orozco
> 

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