[vip_students] FW: [access-uk] Re: Questions about ARIA active elements and progress bars and general screen reader usage in the UK.

From: "Aedan O'Meara" <aedanomeara@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:09:20 -0000

Hi all,
From another list and I must say my feelings are the same.
Aedan. 

-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Michael A Ray
Sent: 25 March 2014 12:29
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Questions about ARIA active elements and progress
bars and general screen reader usage in the UK.

I use NVDA exclusively.

I have never used Jaws and would never pay the price tag associated with it
even if I could afford it.

NVDA has advanced in recent years and I don't understand why some people
insist they simply could not do their job without Jaws. Computing is one
area where "there's more than one way to skin a cat" is certainly very true
and if one way involves paying a thousand pounds just to do what sighted
people take for granted, but skinning it another way means using a free Open
Source screen-reader, then I'll do that.

Yesterday I installed the latest beta of Apache OpenOffice and there's now
no reason to carry on using MS Office.  Although NVDA works well with MS
Office the OpenOffice suite now means there's no need to use commercial
software at all apart from Windows itself.

NVDA has the major functions covered:

1.  Firefox for web browsing.
2.  Thunderbird for email.
3.  OpenOffice for office functions.

IMHO Freedom Scientific only survive by almost giving their over-priced
product to schools and colleges knowing that as students grow up they will
want to stick with a familiar product and will then have to pay the price
tag.

I don't need to remind the list which other type of vendor is in the habit
of giving new customers their first few samples free in the knowledge this
will soon have them scurrying back, pound notes in hand.

And computer users who insist in trolling out the maxim "you get what you
pay for" have not ever had to ring a certain Worcester-based access
technology vendor only to be told by the help-desk that they don't know the
answer to the question and anyway, give us more money.

Mike

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[vip_students] FW: [access-uk] Re: Questions about ARIA active elements and progress bars and general screen reader usage in the UK.

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