[nfbcs] NVDA product question

Mon Nov 3 20:19:27 UTC 2014

Very good suggestion. I've been talking this idea up for years. I am sure
the developers have thought of this plan, I just wonder what keeps them from
following through. Is it that Micro Soft won't work with them, or is it they
are afraid they won't make enough money to stay in business? I think GW
Micro and now AISquaired who now  owns the rights to Window Eyes is doing
something like this with Micro Soft and the Office 10 and above
The deaf people did this with the decoder chip years ago.  They were having
to pay more than a $1000.00 for a machine that would decode the closed
captioning on shows.  Then the chip was, by law, put into all TV sets and
everyone who bought  a TV paid a little of the cost.  The average cost of
the chip was then only 50 cents a TV set. 
Cut here. 
what if the accessibility vendors contracted with Microsoft or Google or
others and had Jaws or ZoomText or Magic or whatever built into the O/S?
Then the cost could be distributed over the "whole world" ... and those that
didn't need to use the product wouldn't have to turn it on.  The vendors
would get paid a bit differently but perhaps that would help distribute the
software to the masses and it wouldn't cost as much to the end user.  And,
when a student got to a university, for example, the product would already
be there (as a side benefit).

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Jolls via
nfbcs
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2014 11:34 AM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] NVDA product question

I won't argue the fact that often times, you do get what you pay for.  Case
in point, I just recently purchased a guitar.  It was not an inexpensive
instrument ... and I have played less expensive guitars ... and the
workmanship on this guitar amazes me.  It's not even the most expensive one
... not a cheap one either ... but still the point is made that you get what
you pay for.  In the case of the guitar, I'd spend the money again.  The
guitar is just simply that good.

With that said, here was the reason for my inquiry about NVDA.  Jaws,
although it is a good product, is (for the version I have) about $1000 if I
was to go buy a copy with no previous version.  That's a pretty stiff price
tag and I'm sure there are people who could benefit from a screen reader who
may not qualify for it through a state agency who can't afford it.  While I
am a developer and I understand that it takes hundreds of hours to code and
test a product such as this, charging that much money simply prices some
people who could benefit from it right out of the park.  I definitely do
understand that when you put as much time as they do at Freedom (or other
vendors) into the product, you have to get your money back to stay in
business ... but at what price?  Here in Nebraska where I live  ... for
example ... they charge 10% in taxes when you buy a car.  On a $30,000 car,
you have to come up with an additional $3000 within 30 days when you
purchase (don't worry, I'm not driving).  It seems to me that they'd sell
more new cars if they'd lower the tax burden.  When prices are high, not as
many can buy.  When prices are lower, it opens up the product to more
people.  Simple economics there.

I do know people ... in  my wife's family ... that could have benefitted
from purchasing these products ... but they absolutely couldn't do it
because of the price.  OK, free is totally on the other end of the spectrum,
and I can understand paying something ... or as I said above, you get what
you pay for.     So I'm sure there could be some sort of happy medium.

Now I do understand that our market is a bit different since our population
is much smaller and the vendors have to spread their cost over a smaller
group.  That could keep the price high.  But what if the accessibility
vendors contracted with Microsoft or Google or others and had Jaws or
ZoomText or Magic or whatever built into the O/S?  Then the cost could be
distributed over the "whole world" ... and those that didn't need to use the
product wouldn't have to turn it on.  The vendors would get paid a bit
differently but perhaps that would help distribute the software to the
masses and it wouldn't cost as much to the end user.  And, when a student
got to a university, for example, the product would already be there (as a
side benefit).

I'm digressing on that last point, but I'm just saying ... while I get the
whole thing of value for money, and I do understand that quality does come
at a price, couldn't there be some other way to do it that doesn't shut
people out who could really use the technology?

> From: gwunder at earthlink.net
> To: mrspock56 at hotmail.com; nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Subject: RE: [nfbcs] NVDA product question
> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:14:05 -0500
> 
> 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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