[Trainer-talk] Properly Formatted without my Signature/The Changing Landscape of the Assistive Technology Industry

Tue Jul 8 17:02:27 UTC 2014

According to the FS Web site, the latest version of the Pac Mate Omni 
was released in 2010, which is also the year that Windows Mobile was 
discontinued.  I am unable to locate any newer Pac Mate updates.  It is 
distressing to see that FS has not even released updates to the 
specialized software contained within the Pac Mate but beyond that there 
is nothing they can do, since the operating system itself has been 
discontinued.  If I were involved with marketing for that company, I 
would certainly consider the options for releasing a similar device 
running either android or Linux, as these operating systems are bound to 
be available for quite some time.

    David Goldfield

Visit my public LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-goldfield/12/929/573

Visit my blog at http://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/davidgoldfield

Wayne Merritt via Trainer-talk wrote:
> I used a Pac Mate for many years. I stopped using it in either 2009 or
> 2010, I recall asking an FS rep at an NFB convention several years ago
> when they were going to have built-in wifi on the PacMate, rather than
> having to get a separate wireless card, as well as doing necessary
> updates to the PM. He didn't really give me an answer, other than
> saying that to improve the wifi would cost a lot and there was no
> guarantee that many people would then buy it so they could make a
> profit. I kept my unit for several years but finally got rid of it.
> Now I use a Windows 7 laptop and a Braille display with my iPhone.
>
> Best,
> Wayne
>
> On 7/8/14, Michelle Clark via Trainer-talk <trainer-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> I  agree with your comments Chris. I  use a  Pac Mate and questioned "Where
>> are the updates?".
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Trainer-talk [mailto:trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> Nusbaum, Christopher via Trainer-talk
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 9:16 AM
>> To: David Goldfield; List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology
>> Subject: Re: [Trainer-talk] Properly Formatted without my Signature/The
>> Changing Landscape of the Assistive Technology Industry
>>
>> David,
>>
>> This is a very fascinating article and I thank you for passing it along. It
>> is true that the assistive technology landscape is rapidly changing with
>> robust solutions being available at lower prices than they were even 5 or 10
>> years ago. However, as a blind student who is now working in the assistive
>> technology program of our school system, I am finding, to my dismay, that
>> the education market is largely not embracing this change.
>>
>> For years I and other BrailleNote users have warned Humanware that they are
>> falling hopelessly behind their competition and will likely go out of
>> business if they do not soon catch up. I have seen many blind people moving
>> away from the BrailleNote in favor of HIMS's BrailleSense or even lower-cost
>> stand-alone Braille displays connected to iOS devices. They, and frankly I,
>> see no sense in paying over $6000 for a device which runs a version of
>> Windows discontinued in 2001 with no plans to update it when they can pay
>> half that price for a Braille display and an iPhone, with which they can do
>> as much and more compared to the BrailleNote. When I expressed these
>> concerns to Greg Stilson of Humanware, however, he dismissed my comments by
>> saying, "We won't go out of business anytime soon. We have the education
>> market." In talking with AT professionals in school systems in my area, I
>> have found this to be the case. They had never heard of the BrailleEdge or
>> NVDA or HIMS. They had no idea any of this technology existed. It's not made
>> by Humanware, so it doesn't exist. This is similar with Freedom Scientific,
>> another company which has taken hold of the education/rehab market and owns
>> it almost exclusively when it comes to screen readers. Noone knows that
>> there are free solutions which can handle most programs used for education
>> as JAWS can. When these agencies become aware of this changing landscape, I
>> believe the industry will once again be shaken up as the school systems
>> which once bought exclusively from certain vendors drop them in favor of
>> lower-cost, more efficient options. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts
>> on this.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> Christopher A. (Chris) Nusbaum, Intern
>> Technology Services Department
>> Assistive Technology Program
>> Carroll County Public Schools
>> Phone: (410) 751-3428
>> Cell: (443) 547-2409
>> Email: canusba at carrollk12.org
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Trainer-talk [mailto:trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> David Goldfield via Trainer-talk
>> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 12:16 PM
>> To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology
>> Subject: [Trainer-talk] Properly Formatted without my Signature/The Changing
>> Landscape of the Assistive Technology Industry
>>
>> The Changing Landscape of the Assistive Technology Industry
>>
>> I remember when I first began using what we call assistive technology back
>> in the 1980′s. Computers were incredibly expensive and the screen readers
>> which powered them were actually cheaper than those computers.
>> Specialized devices made for blind consumers were produced by companies
>> which exclusively made such products and you had to pay a high premium for
>> those products. As we fast forward through time to the year 2014, things
>> have radically changed and I predict they will continue to do so.
>> Companies in the a.t. industry are developing new and, to some, surprising
>> business models in how they distribute their products and services. Some
>> consumers are asking why this is happening.
>> In a nutshell, the landscape for computer access, and the computer industry
>> as a whole, has radically changed and producers of screen readers simply
>> can’t use the business model that worked for them in the 1980′s and 1990′s.
>> For Windows users, we now have NVDA, which has become an extremely robust,
>> reliable and stable screen reader. That’s not meant as an advertisement but
>> this has been my personal experience as I continue to use, teach and support
>> consumers in the use of most of the major screen readers. It offers enough
>> features to satisfy most home users, as well as many students who are in
>> school. In January of this year, GW Micro, now AI Squared, turned the
>> industry on its head by offering Window-eyes to consumers who have Microsoft
>> Office 2010 or later installed on their computers, which is a lot of people.
>> With the economy being what it is, state rehab organizations are less likely
>> to want to pay thousands of dollars for access software for a client and
>> this will surely hurt manufacturers of some of the more expensive screen
>> readers. Of course, there will always be visually impaired workers in a
>> corporate environment who will require a screen reader with the power and
>> configuration of JAWS and window-eyes but users at home or who are in school
>> may not always need such a product to get by. I can anticipate the
>> objections that NVDA doesn’t have the power and flexibility of a product
>> like JAWS but for a product which was officially released in
>> 2009 it’s come a long way and additional support for Office is being added,
>> not to mention that NVDA, like most other screen readers, is also
>> scriptable. Let’s also not forget that blind consumers have understandably
>> embraced apple with open arms, due to their commitment to universal
>> accessibility in nearly all of their products. Basically, the economy is
>> struggling and computers and other mainstream devices are becoming less
>> expensive and more accessible all of the time, making the prospect of paying
>> a thousand dollars for an access package very unappealing and, to some,
>> unacceptable.
>> Therefore, companies which sell products the way they did in the early
>> 1990′s are going to be clobbered by their competition and they must change
>> the way they offer their products. This out of the box strategy could work,
>> assuming it’s the correct strategy. Open source products like LibreOffice
>> come to my mind where the product is free for anyone to download, install or
>> distribute but consumers need to pay if they want support or if they require
>> custom configurations. It’s an intriguing business model and it seems to
>> work if you’ve got the right product. If you’re a state rehabilitation
>> counselor and are responsible and accountable for the money that you spend
>> on your consumers who are requesting software for corporate use, I’ll offer
>> you two choices and I’d like to know which one you’d consider. First, you
>> could purchase a screen reader for a thousand dollars, in addition to paying
>> an hourly fee so that a programmer can write custom scripts to ensure that
>> the screen reader is compatible with the company’s proprietary applications.
>> After all, many companies aren’t just using Microsoft word and Microsoft
>> Outlook as their main suite of programs. Your second choice is to see to it
>> that the free NVDA screen reader or Window-eyes for users of Microsoft
>> Office is installed on your consumer’s computer. Once your consumer’s free
>> screen reader is installed, you might still need to pay someone to write
>> custom scripts but you’ve saved a thousand dollars in purchasing a screen
>> reader.
>> GW Micro is a great example of a company in the a.t. industry trying to make
>> money in this changing landscape by thinking out of the box. First, finding
>> a convenient way to essentially give away an $895.00 screen reader was a
>> pretty brilliant move on their part. For other companies, it would have been
>> quite risky but I suspect it’s not as much of a risk to them, considering
>> their partnership with Microsoft. Secondly, they actually do charge for
>> several support plans for consumers who chose to get the “window-eyes for
>> Users of Microsoft Office”. Also, they do offer phone-based training for a
>> fee. This type of out of the box strategy is also being done by Fedora
>> Outlier with a service they call the $6 question where they will answer any
>> support question you have for $6.00.
>> That may not make them a ton of money but it’s a brilliant move and nobody
>> else in this field is doing anything quite like that, at least to my
>> knowledge. As I write this, it occurs to me that mainstream companies like
>> Microsoft and Apple are getting the same message and are doing things we
>> wouldn’t have expected even five years ago. Microsoft is essentially giving
>> away new versions of Windows to consumers who are running Win8 or later.
>> Apple is now offering packages like Pages and iBooks for free, at least for
>> new users, and they even gave away the last OSX upgrade for free and I
>> believe Yosemite will also be offered at no cost.
>> It’s also interesting to note that we’re seeing mainstream companies offer
>> products and services which, years ago, would have only been available
>> through specialized companies and this move, while a welcome one to
>> consumers, is already affecting the assistive technology industry. Dynavox
>> and Tobii have merged and the assistive technology built into the iPad is
>> something which Dynavox couldn’t compete with. In fact, the Guardian Liberty
>> Voice recently published a piece proclaiming that Apple is a leader in the
>> assistive technology field. When I first saw the article, I nodded my head
>> in agreement and didn’t think much about it. But then I thought about what
>> the piece announced. One of the biggest leaders in the assistive technology
>> industry is not one of the well-known or even well-respected companies in
>> this field but instead it’s Apple, one of the biggest mainstream companies
>> on the planet. Once I really started thinking about this it positively blew
>> my mind and I could barely wrap my head around that fact. So, as I said
>> companies, both mainstream as well as adaptive, have to change the way they
>> do business if they want to continue to stay in business. Some of them are
>> doing just that and those are the companies which will likely survive as the
>> industry continues to transform into something totally different and truly
>> wonderful.
>>
>> --
>>
>>        David Goldfield,
>> Assistive Technology specialist
>> ---------
>>
>> Visit my Web site
>> http://www.davidgoldfield.info
>>
>> Feel free to visit my LinkedIn profile
>> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-goldfield/12/929/573
>>
>> visit my blog
>> http://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com
>>
>> Follow me on Twitter
>> http://www.twitter.com/davidgoldfield
>>
>>
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>