[gui-talk] when will folks start raising hell regarding Windows Phone 8?

Sun Dec 2 15:38:31 UTC 2012

Antonio,

I tend to agree.  It would be wrong for us to let Microsoft off the hook just because we have some good alternatives.  In this business, even big companies come and go, and particularly where there is an 
operating system into which accessibility can be built, we need to be sure it happens.  Especially in the newly emerging tablet market and the integration with phones and computers, it would be easy to find 
ourselves left out of a segment of that market, and that could be the segment a given employer uses.

The original note on this wondered why we didn't give Microsoft a worse time over this.  My earlier point is only that there are some indications that accessibility to Windows 8 on mobile devices is a part of their 
plan.  Allen is right that they have been pretty quiet in terms of public announcements, though and one would hope we would see something discussed reasonably soon.  However, I think it is worth noting that 
Windows 8 is a pretty big change with a lot of things happening.  It is not just new versions of the operating system for the PC and a separate one for mobile devices, it actually is a sort of joinging of PC, 
Tablets, and Mobile devices  under operating systems that are now connected, not unlike what Apple has done to have some common constructs between MACs, I Pads, I Pods and I phones.  This means it 
will take some time for Microsoft to get all their ducks in a row on this stuff.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:43:33 -0500, Antonio M. Guimaraes Jr. wrote:

>Hello all,

>Universal phone access may become important when one needs to make an emergency phone call and all the have available is an  inaccessible phone.

>Antonio Guimaraes

>On Nov 28, 2012, at 11:44 PM, Mike Arrigo <n0oxy at charter.net> wrote:

>> That's what I think too. If Microsoft is unwilling to make their smart phone platform accessible, there are some good alternatives. Of course, they still should make it accessible, but we can definitely vote with 
where we spend our money when it comes to phones.
>> On Nov 28, 2012, at 10:09 PM, Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at shellworld.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> With Apple and Android available, why would anyone need Microsoft?On Wed, 
>>> 28 Nov 2012, Hoffman, Allen wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Lets be clear:
>>>> Windows 8 for personal computers is not that big a deal in accessibility terms and can work fine.  Windows 8 RT for some devices can be problematic but is a small subset of windows.  Windows 8 Phone 
is the key challenge.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerald Levy
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 8:19 AM
>>>> To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
>>>> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] when will folks start raising hell regarding Windows Phone 8?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Actually, this backwards step in terms of accessibility should have been raised a year ago when Windows 8 was still in beta testing.  Everyone knew that it was going to be one big mess, but nobody at 
the so-called "advocacy" 
>>>> organizations gave it much thought.  Now that the final product is here and Windows 7 computers are rapidly vanishing from store shelves, it is probably too late to do anything.  MS seems to be an 800 
pound gorilla that nobody can stop.  But based on preliminary sales figures, Windows 8 could be a bigger disaster for MS than Vista.  And last week, Steve Sinofsky, the MS design executive responsible for 
launching Vista, Windows7 and Windows 8 abruptly left the company.  Some reports claim that he resigned before the you know what over Win 8 hits the fan.  Other reports assert that he was forced to resign 
because of personality clashes with MS CEO Steve Dallmer. 
>>>> In any case, Win 8 could well turn out to be the Edsel of operating systems. 
>>>> All we can do is hope that it is such a colossal commercial flop that MS will be forced to back peddle and release a more blind friendly OS with Windows 9.
>>>> 
>>>> Gerald
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Hoffman, Allen" <Allen.Hoffman at HQ.DHS.GOV>
>>>> To: "Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List" 
>>>> <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 7:56 AM
>>>> Subject: [gui-talk] when will folks start raising hell regarding Windows Phone 8?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Given the terrible accessibility support in the windows Phone 8 
>>>>> release, not the first time for Microsoft, when will we, as a 
>>>>> community feel its time to raise some real hell over this continuing 
>>>>> lack of corporate responsibility?  Seems we focus a lot on Kindle, and 
>>>>> rightly so, but Microsoft should not be let off the hook on this 
>>>>> stuff.  In addition, when would we as a community think its time to 
>>>>> raise hell over getting authoring tools which actually ensure 
>>>>> accessibility of content produced rather than impose nearly impossible 
>>>>> additional work on authors?  I'm sure battles must be picked, but am 
>>>>> unclear on the strategy for picking them of late.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> jude <jdashiel at shellworld.net>
>>> Adobe fiend for failing to Flash
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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