Erik, I have to disagree because I have had very good success with ABBYY's Fine Reader Express. Now I'm fortunate in that my scanner works fine with the included software, so I can either use that software and feed the results to ABBYY or use ABBYY to drive the process. I cannot say how it compares to Openbook etc. since I have not used such software in over 10 years if not 15. So, you may be right that these other solutions produce better results, but I consider the quality of results based on the ability for me to read the output. SInce I have had such success with ABBYY, which costs about $100 I think at least for me I have found a viable solution. Hopefully you will get the software etc. sorted out and be able to provide some more feedback because this does sound interesting. However, I have to admit that for me personally, I do not believe I would spend even half that amount for an OCR solution, but again, remember I'm only referring to what I would or would not do.
Scott On Dec 12, 2010, at 8:01 AM, erik burggraaf wrote: > Well now, Hold your horses, smiles. > > 2 grand is too much for this baby. No doubt about it. There are serious > drawbacks that need to be addressed. The manual is horrendous The mac > software isn't integrated with the mac and tries to be windowsish apparently. > The actual windows software has been crashing like crazy here, but that's in > my virtual machine, where a lot of things don't exactly play ball. It's a > testing ground for anything and everything and I'd take my crashing issues to > a couple of actual windows pc's before I really worried about them. The > unfortunate thing about the crashes from my standpoint is that I can't show > the unit to a client if that's what it's going to do . > > Now having said all that, we've got a couple of off the shelf solutions for > the mac for around a hundred bucks. You know what? They suck. I know a few > really ambitious people on this list have gotten it to fly for them, and > that's great, but a fare few of us here are high end computer users. You've > got to realize, The vast majority of blind people are over the age of 60. > They have interests and poppies and things they like to do and a computer is > a great help to them, but they can't be having to worry about hardware > compatibility, and they don't want 5 or 6 steps and 3 programs to do a simple > scan and read. I'm not gonna take them through image capture, then fine > reader, then text edit, only to find out that what they scanned didn't OCR > properly. The first time that happens I'll lose my audience. You've got to > face the fact that there is nothing for OCR on the mac that is simple as > openbook or kurzweil, and you've especially got to face up to the fact that > there's no one program on the mac that has as many features in one place as > either of those two packages. > > For two grand, EyePal doesn't support enough languages. It's not integrated > with all the services like RFB&D and bookshare. It doesn't have a spell > check, dictionary or thesaurus. it doesn't read currency. It doesn't have > automatic calibration features that will optimize the camera settings for the > particular text you are reading, lighting conditions and so on. > > What it does do, is handle large books really and I mean really well. It > will allow my elderly mac-wealding clients to walk up, put down a document, > hit a button and find out what's on the paper just like my windows clients > can. Is that worth 2 grand? I'm not convinced, but I'm not ready to writhe > it off until I get to see current software working on a real platform of my > choosing. Meanwhile, I suggest you pour yourself another cup of coffee and > mellow out. I know exactly how you feel. I felt the same way when the > original knfb reader came out. Now that product is a stone-age brick and I > could probably have one for $500 if I asked around. I'll tell you what > though. I got those so and so's right where it hurt. You know what I did > with there $3600 piece of astonishingly portable, nice-looking and effective > technology? Oh ho ho you'll never believe this... I left it in the store. > *rubs hands together with glee* That showed 'em. Now I've been working in > AT for almost 3 years, all be it on the very bottom most rung of the ladder, > and It's not like it was 10 years ago. They're still charging stupid amounts > of money for high end screen readers and braille displays, mostly because > it's tradition. They can charge it and people are paying, so you can't very > well blame them. Newer technologies though are subject to the same laws of > depreciation as every other damn thing. EyePal pricing just dropped in > December. I'm hoping that applies to canadian sales as well. Next year it > will go down again. The year after that, abisee will introduce something > else and you'll be able to have one of these for a fraction of the cost. The > market is going a certain way that will eventually freeze out gouging prices > for access technology, but change is slow and you just have to pace yourself > and not let it rip you up so much. > > Take 'er easy. > > Erik Burggraaf > User support consultant, > Now posting occasionally on twitter at eburggraaf, > 1-888-255-5194 > http://www.erik-burggraaf.com > > On 2010-12-11, at 7:19 PM, Yuma Decaux wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> Just wanted to jump in on this, but 2000 dollars for a demo? I mean, >> crashing and all, missing manuals or software and a total lack of anything >> integrated? How come it's that ridiculously priced? It's actually the price >> of two macbook airs, and i thought apple was going premium with their stuff. >> I understand the cost of manufacture/quantity of sale/specialization of the >> device but 2k for something like that is basically laughing at the blind >> man's difficulties and adding more fuel to the fire. >> >> Sorry for my language but i cannot comprehend the level of anger mustering >> out of me in regards to these so called accessiblity solutions when all it >> does is one function, and not even that great as i read on this thred. >> >> Shaking my head in complete disgust >> >> >> -- >> 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. 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