John, some interesting points you make is about level of knowledge of each product. These employees are not paid specialists and are trained to know enough to sell the product. There is likely not a load of pressure for them to become masters of each product. I believe someone on this list works at an APple store or has close ties and may be able to comment. I'm not picking on the employees at the Aknowledgeablepple store at all, I think there will be certain products they really take too and will become very knowledgeable about, but this is probably more that they use the product themselves. What I think would be the best approach for Apple is to develop a very simple cheat sheet that provides the basic commands to help a customer at least get going enough to have an idea what the experience would be like. I think it would be good to work through Apple to share this with the stores, but at the same time we as customers can provide this information ourselves. You know you walk into an Apple store and hand them a cheat sheet, which would take seconds for them to scan and get someone going. Just a few thoughts.
On Jul 28, 2009, at 5:00 PM, John Panarese wrote: > > That is actually a major difference in regard to > accessibility. I can walk into an Apple Store and play with the > systems right there on the floor. Actually, I've done it quite a few > times now. Good luck with that in the Microsoft Store. Imagine > trying to explain to the sales person that you're just going to use > this little USB thumb drive with Window-Eyes or System Access on it to > check out the computers? That ain't going to fly. > > This topic has been thoroughly beaten in the past on this list, > as, to sum it all up, everyone's experiences in their local Apple > Store has ranged from amazingly impressive to disappointingly > lacking. Without a doubt, as previously was the consensus, there > should be some level of knowledge of VoiceOver among some of the staff > of a store. Obviously, this, as pointed out, is a major task and the > average employee probably has strengths and weaknesses with every > product sold in the store. In other words, as a sighted friend said > to me when discussing the subject of sales people and VoiceOver in the > Apple Store around here, he dealt with someone who knew relatively > nothing about the Airport Express and Extreme, but kew all of the > audio and video applications inside and out. Thus, people are people, > and trying to hold them to some unreasonable standard is wishful > thinking and ... well .. unreasonable. There has to be a realistic > perspective here, and, as mentioned, it is really rather trivial at > best compared to the very fact that VoiceOver does exist, is free, and > is part of every Mac. > > > Take Care > > John Panarese > > On Jul 28, 2009, at 3:01 PM, Barry Hadder wrote: > >> >> I really don't know if accessibility is a place that Microsoft wants >> to go in their presentations. I agree that I would like to see Apple >> employees be more familiar with Voiceover, but that isn't a trivial >> thing to ask. Apple has a very functional screen reading system >> built >> into their os that the seem to be dedicated to improving. As it >> stands now, I think it stacks up quite well against the two giants >> WEyes and JFW. >> >> However, I think using a screen reader in place of a pair of eyes to >> use a computer is very unintuitive with whatever is used and is not >> the way I would be doing things if I had a choice. I hope that more >> people will become familiar with VO and how we get things done with >> it, but I'm afraid that it will take time. I think what Apple has >> done in regards to Mac OS and the IPhone is a massive start though. >> >> On Jul 25, 2009, at 12:51 AM, Abdul Kamara wrote: >> >>> Oh how sad... >>> >>> I bet the people at Microsoft were "squirting" all over each other >>> Zoons in hand when they came up with that... >>> >>> Yeah, this is one of few areas where I would criticize Apple. It is >>> problematic when Geniuses know nothing about the accessibility >>> components of the operating system, or at least, not reliably so.. >>> to the extent that they could demonstrate it in house. >>> >>> Best, >>> >>> Abdul >>> >>> Best, >>> >>> A >>> >>> >>> On 25 Jul 2009, at 04:20, Scott Howell wrote: >>> >>>> WOw, maybe Microsoft is feeling a little pressured to try emulating >>>> Apple even more? This should prove quite fascinating and I assume >>>> with all these PCs they plan to sell, would mean third-party deals >>>> with Dell and other companies. What is interesting is if they will >>>> have demos of the windows-based screen readers. :) >>>> >>>> Begin forwarded message: >>>> >>>>> Date: July 24, 2009 9:20:00 PM EDT >>>>> Subject: Microsoft stores to mimic Apple's with "Guru Bars" >>>>> Source: AppleInsider >>>>> >>>>> A leaked presentation has exposed Microsoft's tentative plans for >>>>> its retail stores -- and the high degree to which they'll imitate >>>>> Apple stores, down to their layouts and even the presence of a >>>>> dedicated "Guru Bar" for help. >>>>> Read more… >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>>> >> >> >>> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
