[nfbcs] NVDA product question

Sat Nov 1 07:21:48 UTC 2014

I find this topic a little confusing, so, before I tell you my opinion about 
NVDA and JAWS, I would like to make clear some points:

Nothing is free in this world, particularly among human beeings; everything 
has a cost.  The thing is who pays for this cost.
 Some Christian pastors sometimes say that Savation is free, but what does 
the Bible teach us?
The Bible teaches that believers are redeemed by a very high price (the 
blood of Jesus). It's also said that God gives but man sells and it's true 
that the sun shines for everyone, but a price was paid for the believers to 
be saved and it's a gift from God.

Is NVDA free?
Absolutely not! You get it for free because someone else is bearing the 
cost: development, provider maintenance, etc. If you still doubt about it, 
go to its download page and you'll find that they ask for donations to keep 
it going.
However, you can get it for free, or at least it seems so, because you could 
pay some little part of the cost by making a donation. Also, even if you 
don't pay cash, you will have to pay in time to be able to use it: you'll 
need to invest some time to learn how to use it and get the benefit you 
want.  The same happens with JAWS after you buy it. You have to learn how to 
use it and your time also has a price.
I'm not sure that you need more time to be able to use NVDA than to use 
JAWS.
It's true that you can get support for JAWS without paying extra money, but, 
since the price of JAWS is very high (even more expensive than a new good 
computer with the operating system installed), I think that you had already 
paid for that support when you bought JAWS. So you paid for technical 
support, even if you use it or not in the case of JAWS.
In the case of NVDA, you don't pay for technical support when you downloaded 
it and you'll pay with your time when you need to solve something only when 
you need to solve something.  Sometimes you might pay someone to help you 
with NVDA, but that's probably because you didn't paid for that before.

I'm not in favor of free software when the paid versions are reasonably 
priced; you might be paying for a virus or letting your pc be spied in 
stead, but that's not the case with NVDA where many good organizations are 
supporting it together with Vision Australia.
Also,  Screen Readers tend to be extremely expensive. That's why I'm in 
favor of NVDA.
The price of screen readers must get reasonable. it shouldn't be around the 
price of a new computer.

So, I think that one can say "you get what you pay for" when we talk about 
cheap Chinese talking watches, but to say that in the case of NVDA is not 
fair.  You don't need to pay one dollar to use NVDA and you can use your 
computer. If you choose JAWS, you have to pay hundreds of dollars to use 
your computer. Even if Jaws might work better in some cases, there are other 
cases where NVDA works better, but this happens with other paid screen 
readers, too.
Particularly, if you have to use many different languages like Chinese and 
Japanese, NVDA is much better, because in the case of JAWS you'll need a 
different localized version for each language. You can buy two or more 
localized versions and check if you can install both and use them together 
if you are so rich that you can afford it.
You are lucky in the US; in Japan, JAWS costs about US$1,500.

Being free is one of the wonderful features of NVDA that most other screen 
readers don't have.

Thanks to Vision Australia and to all the organizations and individuals that 
support NVDA.

I'm very happy to have NVDA and Voiceover, both wonderful, totally 
functional and "free"; I don't need to pay the price of two computers to use 
just one, like the sighted people, thanks to NVDA and Voiceover.  Sorry I 
don't use Linux, so I can't say anything about it.
Narrator is also free...
So, at least to me, to talk about and compare screen readers and to say that 
one is good or bad just in terms of "cost/free of charge" doesn't make sense 
nowadays.
JAWS and Windoweyes, etc, are very good, but you have to pay. NVDA and 
Voiceover are also excellent and you don't have to pay.
I think most people know it, so it might be better if we discuss in terms of 
the real advantages and disadvantages for each one in particular cases.
I like JAWS very much and I have it because my company paid for it. I also 
like NVDA and Voiceover. The three are very good, but two of them are free: 
first purchase and upgrades. If you choose JAWS, you will have to pay also 
for new versions when you need them: a lot of money in the long run.
Do you need to pay so much money for some specific features you might need?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nancy Coffman via nfbcs" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
To: "Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO" <Susan.Stanzel at kcc.usda.gov>; 
"NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2014 8:33 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] NVDA product question

>I work for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. We 
>use JAWS in the agency because it is compatible with the other software we 
>use. My experience is that free screen readers sometimes work better with 
>free software such as Open Office.
>
> I don't know if Freedom Scientific charged for their services, but when we 
> had accessibility problems with our web-based case management system, they 
> helped to resolve them. Between their web presence, the training materials 
> which are cheap or free, and the phonelines, we get good technical support 
> from Freedom Scientific. am still a believer that you usually will get 
> what you pay for. I also have free screen readers on my computer. I work 
> with them if JAWS doesn't work well or if I want to learn about them. I 
> even donate to NV-Access occasionally.
>
> Nancy Coffman
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Oct 31, 2014, at 1:06 PM, "Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO via 
>> nfbcs" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Gary,
>>
>> One reason I would continue to pay is the wonderful customer assistance. 
>> Jaws staff is always cordial and very helpful.
>>
>>
>> Susie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder 
>> via nfbcs
>> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2014 12:14 PM
>> To: 'Mike Jolls'; 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] NVDA product question
>>
>> Hello, Mike. I am delighted that you read the article about NVDA in the 
>> Braille Monitor, and I want to give you a heads up about something that 
>> will appear in the November issue.
>>
>> We have run two articles talking about free or essentially free software 
>> for blind people, but I wanted the Braille Monitor also to make the case 
>> for why we have for-profit commercial screen readers and what role they 
>> play in our education and employment. I think I found that article, and I 
>> hope that it provokes discussion. The essence of the article is that free 
>> might not be everything it is cracked up to be if we are interested in 
>> efficiency, and I think anyone who is employed knows that efficiency is a 
>> key issue.
>>
>> Thank you for being a reader of the Braille Monitor. Please feel free to 
>> write me with ways in which I can make the publication more responsive to 
>> the things that you want and need. My email address for Monitor-related 
>> issues is gwunder at nfb.org
>>
>> Warmly,
>>
>> Gary
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Jolls via 
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2014 2:00 PM
>> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [nfbcs] NVDA product question
>>
>> So I was reading the NFB Monitor this morning and came across an article 
>> about NVDA.  I didn't know much about it up to this point, but as I read 
>> the article by the person who created the free screen reader, it really 
>> intrigued me.  Up until this point I've sworn by JAWS ... but it is 
>> pricey and in a few years I'll be wanting to retire ... and NOT have to 
>> pay the price for upgrades all the time.  Having a free screen reader 
>> would be a good thing.... providing it's a good product.  It sounds like 
>> it, but I wanted to get some opinions.  I know some of you out there have 
>> spoken about it so I'm hoping we have some users on this list.  Can 
>> anybody comment on the product?  How does it stack up next to Jaws and 
>> does it support Freedom Scientific's Braille displays?  In addition, I 
>> might be interested in contacting the developer and get on board in 
>> helping out people once I don't have the responsibilities of working for 
>> a living.
>>
>> Comments welcome.
>>
>>
>>
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