They are both very expensive though. I would urge working out which tasks you can do on the Mac side. The more you can do on the Mac side, the cheaper the screen reader you will need. If you can use iWork and built in Mac apps rather than touching Outlook, for instance, you can probably get away with NVDA. Office 2007 is slow and, in my view, doesn't work that well with screen readers. Office 2007 and 2010 use an entirely different interface than anything else out there and I think are slow and hard to learn. This is the main reason I won't be surprised if I make that order in the next couple of weeks and go over to a similar situation where I use Mac for everything I can and only cross back when I have to.
Nothing works like VO, and nothing has a voice to match Alex, I think you'll hate everything about the way Windows is going, personally! Cheers Dave -----Original Message----- From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com [mailto:macvisionar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Scott Granados Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2010 5:20 AM To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Need Mac User's advice on which Windows screen reader to purchase and learn Jaws is more or less the standard in terms of you'll run in to that more than others. Window-eyes is another great option. I haven't used it but many many people think very highly of it. What I would do if I were you is take that Mac, set yourself up a virtual machine and try the demo copies of all the options you listed. Read the manual / ask questions and you should be able to bootstrap yourself. You may need help creating the VM for Windows I had a help desk not sure your situation although there is a podcast that details this process. I like Jaws myself but I have heard Window-eyes can be more stable and leaner on resources. Costs differ, JFW is probably the most expensive. Window-eyes comes with an option where you can pay for the software in installments which is a fantastic feature on a budget. Hope that helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryan Jones" <openses...@me.com> To: <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 8:52 PM Subject: Need Mac User's advice on which Windows screen reader to purchase and learn I realize the question might sound strange and even off-topic, but I really want to hear this advice from fellow Mac and VO Users. When I last used Windows I was able to get by with a screen magnifier and didn't use a screen reader. By the time I needed to start using a screen reader I had already moved to the Mac full time so VO was the natural choice. Now I'm being required to start using Windows again, along with Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 8 and I'm not sure which Windows screen reader I should invest my time and money to learn, or if one of them is more like VO than the others. I will be running either XP or Windows 7 under Fusion. Please send your replies directly to me off-list as this probably isn't a thread that needs to grow here. I would be grateful for your thoughts on the following questions: 1. I've heard of Jaws, Window-Eyes, System Access, and NVDA. Any others I should consider? 2. Is there a Windows screen reader that works like VO? 3. Is there one Windows screen reader that is easier to learn than the others? 4. I was intimately familiar with XP but don't know Windows 7 at all. Are they similar enough that I should get Windows 7, or should I try to get XP so that I don't have to learn a new operating system along with the new screen reader? 5. I will probably only need to use Windows for the next 2 years and most of my work will still be done on the Mac. Given this limited time frame, is one of the Windows screen readers less expensive to own over that time period? TIA for any assistance, Bryan -- 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. -- 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.
