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

Sat Nov 13 04:31:05 UTC 2010

I think we have to keep in mind that as much as we praise apple today, the iphone was not accessible from the beginning.  The issue is how to get accessibility to be thought of as an essential part of the operating system from the beginning, and I'm not sure how we do that.
On Nov 11, 2010, at 4:08 PM, Curtis Chong wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
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