I do believe it was September 2008. Again, thanks for clearing things
up. Much appreciated. :)
Sent from my iPod
On Apr 15, 2010, at 1:18 AM, "James & Nash" <james.austin1...@googlemail.com
> wrote:
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.
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