[gui-talk] JAWS 16

[David Goldfield]

I sent the following message to my coworkers and have decided to repost 
it here, for those who are interested.

Freedom Scientific has released the first of a series of podcasts where 
they will be discussing and demonstrating new features which we’ll see 
in version 16 of their JAWS screen reader.  Since JAWS is one of the 
screen readers installed where I work, this is important for me to know 
about as I would prefer to learn about what’s being added as soon as I can.
This first podcast discussed how JAWS is being rebranded with new names 
for one of their editions.  Previously, we’ve had two separate editions 
of JAWS.  One edition was known as JAWS Professional.  JAWS Professional 
worked on both home and professional editions of Windows, such as 
Windows 7 Home Premium as well as windows 7 Professional.  JAWS Pro also 
included the ability to log onto remote systems with programs like 
Citrix and Terminal Services.  The other edition of JAWS was known as 
JAWS Standard.  JAWS Standard was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper 
with cheaper software maintenance agreements and it only supported home 
editions of Windows.  This means that if you purchased JAWS Standard and 
upgraded to a professional version of windows, your screen reader 
wouldn’t work unless you upgraded your JAWS license to JAWS Pro, a 
process which probably confused and infuriated more than a few JAWS users.
Now, JAWS Standard is being rebranded with the new name of JAWS Home 
User Edition.  For the most part, there will be no differences between 
the two versions of JAWS, as both versions will work on all versions of 
Windows.  JAWS Home Edition will still be a bit cheaper, with cheaper 
SMAs.  FS is marketing JAWS Home User Edition for “noncommercial use” 
and JAWS Professional for organizations such as schools, agencies and 
other work sites.  If you use your own computer on the job or in school, 
FS is allowing users to use JAWS Home User Edition but schools and other 
organizations are still required to use JAWS Professional.  Home users 
who are using JAWS Professional will be permitted to essentially 
downgrade their license, allowing for cheaper software maintenance 
agreements.
As more podcasts are released with more features being demonstrated, 
I’ll share summaries of them with you.

-- 

-- 
David Goldfield,

      Founder and Peer Coordinator,
Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Feel free to visit my new Web site
http://www.DavidGoldfield.info/