[nfbmi-talk] Mac book

[Scott Ford]

Hello everyone,
	I am using a Mac book Pro 15'.  I like the Mac platform, however as
many have said on this list the Mac is a different beast altogether.  You
must throw out most of the concepts that you have learned as a Jaws user.
For example the Jaws world looks at focal points on a micro level, on the
Mac they look at things on the macro level.  This is as if a sighted person
were to walk into the room and to take in the entire picture, then to focus
onto the object of their desire.  Wrapping your mind around the different
concept, is at times overwhelming.  Another thing is, that at times there
are if then situations.  For example if you do a VO+shift+down arrow then
you can listen to specific information about the table that you may be
examining.  On the other hand you could still look at certain stuff if you
are on the table and just arrow down.  This is not bad, however sometimes
the sidebar is available and at other times it is nowhere to be found.  The
key strokes often times take more than three fingers to accomplish.  Finally
Most key strokes are significantly different from that of a P.C.
	I would like to make it clear I have a Mac and like it.  The machine
is great , in my opinion it is wonderful for a person who is not doing
business related activities, right now.  This is an ever evolving landscape
and today is not indicative of tomorrow.  Everyday something new is coming
out.  In fact you can still work in the windows world on a Mac, that is in
fact what I am currently doing, because there are just some things that work
better right now in the windows world.  There are some things that the Mac
does do better though.  Downloading NLS books, they are immediately
unzipped, Reading email the application blows away any other, I have a
application on my Mac mini that provides full access to TV just like TiVo, I
really like it, it is not quite as stable as TiVo, however the accessibility
is un presidented.  I have a home control system that is completely
accessible, this is truly awesome, one cannot find that on a windows
machine.  In my opinion the bottom line is you need to determine what your
goals are and purchase the machine that will function the best for you.  In
many cases people have taken years to become familiar with Jaws.  Learning a
completely new system may be an insurmountable task, frankly I struggle with
it myself.  Then there are people who are like a duck to water, in that case
go for it, but keep in mind that it is still not as mature as the PC is.  I
have no doubt that in the coming years if Apple continues to make the
strides that they have been doing they will blow the compotation away,
because they are not standing still in the accessibility universe.  I hope
that this helps a little.
Sincerely,
Scott