Hi Rob, Where did your friend get this info from? I would be interested to read this. When was the law suit issued? Apple has always had some manner of accessibility in their computers I believe with the Outspoken, Screen Reader formally made by Alva. Only since 2005/6 though has Apple used its own Screen Reader.
I don't know, but I suspect that this NFB law suit is a distortion of the facts if anything. From what i understand, when Microsoft announced that they wanted to develop an in-built accessibility for Windows, the NFB pressured them not to continue because they feared that it would be detrimental to venders such as Freedom Scientific. However, this may just be a rumour as I cannot find any info on this. Your friend might be referring to the announcement that in September 2008, NFB reached an agreement with apple on making ITunes more accessible to Blind users which would last for three years. This agreement was only for ITunes though as far as I know. This agreement came shortly after Freedom Scientific's announcement that ITunes would be accessible with JFW. As Josh De Lioncourt notes in his September 2008 article "Apple & NFB reach agreement on Apple Accessibility", ...NFB made no such fanfare when GW Micro announced its work with Apple on ITunes accessibility with Window-Eyes earlier this year,, when that accessibility came to fruition earlier this month, or when the vast majority of the ITunes application became accessible with Apple's Voice Over Screen Reading technology for Mac OS X early in 2007... Ignoring Apple's (and others') advancements in accessibility still seems to be a favourite NFB tactic. This was shown very clearly in NFB's article in the June 2009 edition of The Braille Monitor called "Report on the ease of access of the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard environment with Voice Over". Mr. Majerus' comments in this article were not entirely accurate and the article suffered from obvious bias and a lack of objectivity. Eventually, NFB issued a retraction, and whilst it was welcome, I think their previous comments damaged their reputation as an Assistive Technology review powerhouse. But sadly, NFB's stance is one taken by the majority of Blindness organisations - especially here in Europe. This is changing in France it would seem and there are people working in the UK too who seek to change venders' outlooks. I don't think Apple are going to walk away from Voice Over. As others have pointed out, they have invested far too much time and money, as well as been the beneficiaries of a major switch by a growing number of Blind and VI users. TC James, Lyn, Nash & Twinny On 15 Apr 2010, at 07:08, Rob Lambert wrote: > I just got wind, from a friend of mine, that the only reason Apple is > accessible to us is because of a lawsuit by the NFB. The term of the > agreement was for accessibility improvements for three years. Here's a > question. First, what's your side of this ordeal? Second, who thinks Apple > will keep up with the accessibility improvements after this three year term > is up? I apologize for making smooth waters mirky, I just wanted to know what > your take on this was. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@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. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@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.
