Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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The VFO Squeeze Begins: sales of Window-Eyes have ended, users that paid for and are current with Window-Eyes 9.x will be converted to JAWS 18. Now JAWS and NVDA are the only viable options for blind Windows users (gwmicro.com)
submitted by fastfinge
1ird 2 points 6y ago
This sounds like a real mess. I really hope my vision doesn't get to the point I need a screen reader.
fastfinge [OP] 2 points 6y ago
This comes just days after VFO purchased The Paciello Group, a leading accessibility testing company, in an obvious effort to pressure JAWS only compliance, instead of standards compliance. VFO already owns Freedom Scientific, AI Squared, and Optelec. I suspect that the days of both Zoomtext and MAGic continuing to exist are strictly numbered. In the coming years, we can expect more and more websites and apps that only work with JAWS, and the price of JAWS to increase rapidly.
bondolo 3 points 6y ago
With the growth of mobile and decline of desktops it seems unlikely that JAWS desktop hegemony will mean very much. If they attempt to squeeze people it will just accelerate the decline and/or user adoption of NVDA.
A reasonable first step for advocacy is to ask for NVDA in public libraries, schools and other public institutions. The second step is to then ask why they are paying for JAWS assuming they don't figure that out themselves.
A reasonable first step for advocacy is to ask for NVDA in public libraries, schools and other public institutions. The second step is to then ask why they are paying for JAWS assuming they don't figure that out themselves.
fastfinge [OP] 2 points 6y ago
> With the growth of mobile and decline of desktops
In most cases, I think you're right. Unfortunately, the decline of desktops doesn't seem to be happening in the workplace. My biggest worry is that JAWS uses it's position on the desktop to ensure the majority of desktop business apps (sales force, quickbooks, etc) and websites are only accessible with JAWS. This would make it more expensive to employ blind people, and thus be yet another contributor to the desperate lack of employment in our community. Laws like the ADA may generally force large companies to just swallow the unfairly high costs, resulting in blind people being locked out of small businesses entirely if the business owner can't afford JAWS.
In most cases, I think you're right. Unfortunately, the decline of desktops doesn't seem to be happening in the workplace. My biggest worry is that JAWS uses it's position on the desktop to ensure the majority of desktop business apps (sales force, quickbooks, etc) and websites are only accessible with JAWS. This would make it more expensive to employ blind people, and thus be yet another contributor to the desperate lack of employment in our community. Laws like the ADA may generally force large companies to just swallow the unfairly high costs, resulting in blind people being locked out of small businesses entirely if the business owner can't afford JAWS.
k00l_m00se 3 points 6y ago
Man I hate JAWS.
fastfinge [OP] 2 points 6y ago
Well, better hope NVDA can continue to survive in a landscape where VFO controls the majority of accessibility testing, and will begin pressuring applications to use proprietary JAWS interfaces, rather than following standards.
Nighthawk321 3 points 6y ago
Jesus Christ. I swear, if that happens, I don't even know. NVDA is growing sure, but not fast enough obviously.
GoneVision 1 points 6y ago
It's all a matter of perspective I guess. From a user support standpoint, I'm glad WindowEyes is being discontinued. Now that window eyes is not an option, I have one less variable to consider, and can concentrate efforts on making a better user experience for the vast majority of users who use jaws, or NVDA, to access windows. You all seem to be forgetting the emergence of narrator as a viable option for accessing windows, too. Microsoft's renewed commitment to making things accessible has brought vast changes to narrator, and if you haven't checked it out recently, Features such as Braille support, and access to speech while installing windows, are welcomed enhancements to the screen reader. It thrills me to no end, to see Technology Titans such as Microsoft and Amazon following apples lead, and endeavoring to make all of their products more accessible to people with disabilities. Commitment to making all of their developer tools accessible, for example, will literally be life-changing, for blind coders who need these applications to work flawlessly with the screen reader to maintain viable employment.
fastfinge [OP] 2 points 6y ago
But Narrator only works in Microsoft Edge to surf the web. No Chrome, no Firefox, nothing. Even Voiceover on the mac, as much as I love it, has similar problems. Screenreaders built by the platform owner tend to work exclusively with there apps. So I suspect Microsoft Developer tools will work exclusively with Narrator, and third party developer apps will be pressured into working exclusively with JAWS. Leaving only open-source stuff like Rust to work with NVDA. If things continue on the way they are, I suspect that in five years NVDA will be forced out of the market entirely. However, I know the NVDA guys are a lot smarter than I am. So they may be able to advocate and make the changes in organization and structure they need to fight the VFO monster. I just wish I knew what those changes are.
Edit to add: This is assuming Narrator even continues to be developed. VFO has a pretty good anti-trust case they could make, assuming they decide to go that way. Getting Narrator removed from Windows for legal anti-trust reasons wouldn't be hard.
Edit to add: This is assuming Narrator even continues to be developed. VFO has a pretty good anti-trust case they could make, assuming they decide to go that way. Getting Narrator removed from Windows for legal anti-trust reasons wouldn't be hard.
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