[nfbcs] Windows Phone 7 Not Accessible To The Blind?

[Curtis Chong]

On October 26, 2010, the Microsoft Corporation convened a day-long Mobile
Accessibility Roundtable at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.  A
number of blindness organizations were represented, among them the National
Federation of the Blind, the American Council of the Blind, the American
Foundation for the Blind, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the
Royal national Institute of Blind People (from the United Kingdom), Vision
Australia, and ONCE (the organization of the blind in Spain).  As president
of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science, I was pleased
to be able to attend this Roundtable to represent the organization.

 

The central issue for this Roundtable was nonvisual access to Microsoft's
newest entry into the mobile phone market, Windows Phone 7.  Prior to the
roundtable, press releases and email messages had been circulating to the
effect that Windows Mobile 7 would not be accessible to the blind.  It was
said that the predecessor to Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, had been
made accessible to the blind with the help of the Mobile Speak and Talks
screen reading programs, and the word was out that these programs would not
work with Windows Phone 7.  Accessibility advocates wanted to know what
Microsoft was going to do about this.

 

While the news regarding nonvisual access to Windows Phone 7 was not what
many of us would have liked (it is not really accessible to the blind
today), my natural skepticism was somewhat mitigated by Microsoft's level of
executive commitment to the Roundtable.  Andy Lees, President of Microsoft's
Mobile Business, spent a lot of time at the Roundtable and stated several
times that he was personally committed to ensuring long-term nonvisual
access to the Microsoft mobile platform.  This commitment was reaffirmed by
Rob Sinclair, Microsoft's Chief Accessibility Officer; Chuck Bilow,
Microsoft's Senior Program Manager responsible for Windows Phone
accessibility; and Richard Suplee, a Senior Product Planner in Microsoft's
Mobile Communications Business.

 

Windows Phone 7, we were told, is a "fundamental top-to-bottom rewrite from
previous Microsoft mobile operating systems."  It is a completely new
operating system and user interface."  No applications from earlier
Microsoft Mobile operating systems will run on Windows Phone 7.  No cell
phone that can run Windows Mobile 6.5 can run Windows Phone 7.  Microsoft
told us that it was not technically feasible to build the infrastructure
needed to support screen reading software--no multi-tasking capability, no
inter-process communication, and no user interface focus.

 

There are those who will want to know why it was necessary for Microsoft to
engage in a total rewrite at all.  The answer, simply put, is that Microsoft
felt that its Mobile Business was not doing as well as it would like and
that an entirely new strategy was required.  Hence, Windows Phone 7.  It is
regrettable that nonvisual access was one of the first casualties of this
effort, and it is also unfortunate that we are not likely to notice any
improvement for at least a year.  However, during the Roundtable, Microsoft
did commit to working more closely with the blind community as it continues
to work toward the development of a nonvisual access solution.  Perhaps more
significant was the apparent recognition by Microsoft that in order to
address issues of accessibility in any meaningful way, the company has to do
more to build accessibility into its products directly instead of relying on
outside parties to furnish the solution.  And in so doing, it must not shut
out companies like Nuance and Code Factory.  These and other companies can
play a vital role.  They can develop add-on products that will improve the
efficiency with which we can operate Microsoft Mobile products.

 

Can Microsoft build a mobile product that is truly accessible to the blind?
If past history is any sort of a guide, the answer to that question is still
in doubt.  There is little disagreement that over the years, Microsoft has
done a lot to improve nonvisual access to the Windows operating system and
to some of its more widely-used applications--Microsoft Office and Internet
Explorer in particular.  However, it is equally true that we, the blind, can
point to more Microsoft products that are still not truly accessible to us
than those that are; some of these products run on Windows-based desktop and
laptop computers , and others run on other platforms.  Moreover, the
text-to-speech engine that Microsoft provides at no cost with its Windows
operating system is not regarded in the blind community as being the best
available (Some of us remember back in the mid nineties when Microsoft first
unveiled its text-to-speech engine; we were less than enthused about the
poor quality of the speech and even less impressed by the extreme
sluggishness of the speech itself).

 

If Microsoft follows through on its commitment to work more closely with
organizations of and for the blind to build an accessible mobile product, it
is possible for a useful and truly nonvisually-accessible mobile product to
emerge.  However, if our history with the company has taught us anything, it
is that we as consumers must continue the pressure for nonvisual access to
Microsoft products and regard with cautious optimism the company's
assurances that it will do the right thing on our behalf.  We must not
forget that in our past dealings with Microsoft and other large commercial
information technology companies, nonvisual access has traditionally been
the first item to cut when tough business decisions need to be made.
Somehow, we must help Microsoft to come up with viable business reasons to
build nonvisual access into its mobile product line and to keep it there.
Andy Lees, President of Microsoft's Mobile Business, has stated publicly
that "Microsoft's goal is to deliver platforms, products, and services that
are accessible.  We recognize that there is more we can do in this respect,
and our goal is to develop Windows Phone into a compelling option for people
who are blind or visually impaired."  Our challenge as consumers is to
ensure that Microsoft achieves this goal.

 

Cordially,

 

Curtis Chong