This is essentially correct. I would expect that Learning Ally wrote their program in Java or another cross platform language. And then discovered it didn't play nice with VoiceOver so a controller program was written with UI scripting my concerns are if this often cross platform tools have more vulnerabilities and especially concerns me that the program has not been updated in five years.
Jonathan Cohn > On Jan 24, 2016, at 3:07 PM, Grant <grant.li...@icloud.com> wrote: > > I don’t think this preference has to do with VO, despite being labelled as > “accessibility”. In fact, I don’t believe it has anything to do with whether > or not an app is going to be accessible, or with what we normally consider to > be “accessibility features". > > I think this setting simply authorizes, or not, apps to control your computer > using certain scripts and commands which happen to also be used for > accessibility purposes. The setting would probably be less confusing if the > word “accessibility” was taken out of the name, and it was renamed something > like “advanced control” or something much more generic. > > Here are a couple examples of what I mean: > > -Karabiner, an app many of us use to remap keys on our keyboards, supports > per-application key mappings. It it needs access to those accessibility > permissions in order to do things like observe when the window title > changes. Regardless of who uses Karabiner, they need to grant those > permissions in order for the app to work correctly. > > -Dropbox also requests access to these controls. I’m not sure what it uses > them for, but you can find much discussion about this on Dropbox’s forums. > > Here’s a slightly outdated Apple support article explaining these controls: > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202802 > > Now, why a book management application needs access to these features is a > bit beyond me, but I’m sure it serves some purposes. Hope this all makes > sense! > > Grant > >> On Jan 24, 2016, at 11:10 AM, Brent Harding <br...@hostany.net> wrote: >> >> I thought I remember back in those early days that it was recommended to >> turn that preference on if you were going to use VO. I think some of that >> kind of thing might come down to a copyright thing to make sure that only >> blind people can use the app. If they use the api's directly instead of >> making a normal app, they can make sure the wrong people hopefully don't use >> it, but then if they don't have a login and password, there'd be no way for >> them to download. >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Chris Gilland >> To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >> Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2016 12:55 PM >> Subject: Re: Question about Learning Alley L A Book Manager >> >> Normally, yes, I’d agree. The only reason I don’t agree with you in this >> one case is, I think it’s needing to somehow grab API’s from both Voiceover >> and from, most likely, Apple Script. It can’t do that though being those >> are different components than what are built into the app to start with. >> For this reason, OSX is actually doing you a favor by not allowing it by >> default. >> >> I see where you’re coming from, trust me, I do. Again, in most 99.999 >> cases, I’d agree with you whole heartedly. >> >> I’d beg to say in this case though, it’s most likely a harmless thing. Now, >> that also being said, why Learning Alley in the first place thought they had >> to make the app this way? I’m sure there is a reason we don’t get, but I >> agree it seems a little odd. >> >> Anyway, I’m not the programmer, so who am I to judge? >> >> Chris. >> >>> On Jan 24, 2016, at 1:39 PM, Jonathan C. Cohn <jon.c.c...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> This was a change made in Yosemite announced in summer 2014. It is >>> inexcusable that there is not at least a daw listing this change. I also >>> consider this a security risk that this needs to be enabled. >>> >>> >>> Jonathan Cohn >>> >>>> On Jan 7, 2016, at 3:59 PM, Sharon Hooley <shoole...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> I guess it'll take a lot of people to call the attention to the techies >>>> over there to keep up with all the devices blind users like to work with. >>>> >>>> Sharon H. >>>> >>>>> On Jan 7, 2016, at 12:20 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland >>>>> <clgillan...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Guys, >>>>> >>>>> I just renewed my Learning Alley membership, as I've not been current now >>>>> for quite some time, probably since 2011. A lot seems to have changed >>>>> since then. >>>>> >>>>> I see that they have a mac version of the Learning alley Book Manager. I >>>>> know it's not necessary for downloading books, but if I want to play them >>>>> on my mac, I'll need it, no doubt, being the books are incrypted. >>>>> >>>>> After installing the book manager, and launching it, I get a message >>>>> saying I need to go into System Preferences, and then tab down to the >>>>> checkbox to enable access for assistive devices within Universal Access. >>>>> Well, obviously, there is no such thing in El Capitan as Universal >>>>> Access. Yeah, under System prefs, there is the accessibility payne, but >>>>> even under there, none of the categories within the table give you the >>>>> option to allow access to assistive devices. I definitely do see 3 >>>>> buttons in that message given by the Book Manager. I have an option to >>>>> continue anyway, to quit, or of corse, to open System Prefs, which does >>>>> absolutely no good in this case. >>>>> >>>>> If I elect to continue anyway, then I'm given to items on the screen of >>>>> which both just say unknown, and interacting with them does entirely >>>>> nothing. I can't even access About window to tell you all what version >>>>> of the manager is running. Again, I just get two unknowns. I don't >>>>> honestly even think the About window is even popping up, period. >>>>> >>>>> Yes, this is the most recent version of the software. It has to be, as I >>>>> just downloaded it from the Learning Alley web site this morning. >>>>> >>>>> Suffice it to say, if L A can't get their crap together more than this, >>>>> I'm probably gonna cancel my membership. When I called their support, >>>>> they were incredibly unhelpful. They told me they had no user guide for >>>>> the mac client, which I later after looking myself found out wasn't true. >>>>> The pdf for the guide however is only images, with no text. Therefore, >>>>> I'd have to find a way to O C R the blasted thing. >>>>> >>>>> When I called and asked to speak to someone who was in tech support that >>>>> could help me with the mac side of things, they not only said they were >>>>> doing away with the mac software eventually, but that they had no one on >>>>> staff at all either in office or not who knew Voiceover, and for that >>>>> mind, not only this, but they'd never even heard of Voiceover and didn't >>>>> even know it existed. Finally, after some research, the lady I spoke >>>>> with came back on the line and goes, OK, sir. You're running OSX 10.5 >>>>> Leopard, right? I'm like, uh... Not? freaking, hardly! Try El Capitan >>>>> 10.11.2! She's like, oh, I didn't realize they'd come out with something >>>>> so much newer. >>>>> >>>>> Needless to say, I'm not even slightly! impressed. >>>>> >>>>> I'd be incredibly curious if anyone of you all have gotten the manager to >>>>> work, and if not, then how the hell are you playing your books on the >>>>> mac, or do you simply not. Yeah, I have both my IPhone, and my Nexus 6, >>>>> and both on the Apple side of things with Voiceover, as well as on the >>>>> Android side with Talkback, things in both cases seem to work quite well, >>>>> but it would be nice to not always have to rely on a mobile device just >>>>> to listen to things. Ya know? Yeah, I also do have my Bard Enhanced NLS >>>>> player, but again, I might not always want to rely on that thing. >>>>> >>>>> Suggestions, aside from the obvious of screaming at the top of my lungs? >>>>> >>>>> Chris. >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >>>>> Visionaries list. >>>>> >>>>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or >>>>> if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the >>>>> owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>>>> >>>>> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara >>>>> Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com >>>>> >>>>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ >>>>> --- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >>>> Visionaries list. >>>> >>>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or >>>> if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the >>>> owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>>> >>>> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara >>>> Quinn - 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you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com >>> >>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> >> -- >> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >> Visionaries list. >> >> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if >> you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or >> moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >> >> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara >> Quinn - 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