[gui-talk] {Spam?} Re: JAWS and Window Eyes Now Owned By the Same Company

Thu Jun 16 06:10:09 UTC 2016

Hi all,

I agree with the sentiments expressed here that this is likely to be bad news in the long term for the competitiveness of the Windows screen reader market, and is likely to mean a reduction of innovation and potentially higher prices.

I should say that I’m not a habitual Freedom Scientific basher.  I’ve used JAWS and Window-Eyes since version 4 of each product and still do.  At various times I’ve preferred one over another, but in each version one has been able to accomplish something that the other could not.

There are some concerning business practices in Freedom Scientific that make me believe this won’t be great news for customers, however much David Woo (outgoing CEO of AI Squared and new Vice President of Software Business at VFO) tried to convince us to the contrary on the FSCast podcast.

Firstly, Freedom Scientific prevented braille display manufacturers from creating drivers that would allow earlier versions of their displays to work with later versions of JAWS.  This rendered old but perfectly functional displays obsolete for many users.  For instance, the Baum Vario (called Rabbit in the US I believe) that I purchased in 1999 works with Window-Eyes 9.4 under Windows 10, but it won’t work with anything later than JAWS 10.  Now the cynic in me makes me think FS did this because they also manufacture braille displays, and someone who has been forced to switch will go with the display manufactured by their screen reader company for n easier life.

There’s also Freedom Scientific’s habit of releasing software updates at a particular point in the year.  The accusation has always been that this meant features were held back for inclusion in future updates to keep the money coming in.  This is of course a perfectly reasonable commercial decision, but it is not one taken in the best interests of customers, if you accept that those interests are to have improved accessibility and performance as quickly as possible.

Finally, there is the approach that Freedom Scientific purportedly used to take to making mainstream software accessible.  You can read about it in Chris Hofstadter (former FS employee’s) blog primarily on GW Micro, http://chrishofstader.com/remembering-gw-micro/.  The relevant heading is “The Great GW Micro contribution”.

Now Hofstadter appears to have left FS under a cloud and was largely airbrushed out of history by them in their various JAWS 20th anniversary reminiscences last year as far as I could gather.  But if the article is correct, GW worked collaboratively with the software giants to give us access to products, whereas FS wanted paying.  While again this might be a reasonable commercial decision, it would certainly have led to software becoming accessible more slowly, and these are the people holding the vast majority of the cards in the Windows screen reader industry.

It’s interesting that we are talking about Apple, Android and iOS as competitors to JAWS.  It’s obviously much harder to switch operating systems than screen readers because of the learning curve attached.  15-20 years ago you had a choice of JAWS, Window-Eyes, Window Bridge, Winvision, Automatic Screen Access for Windows, Hal 95, Protalk and Screenpower as paid-for screen readers.  I’m not saying that all of those made for an accessibility utopia, it didn’t and some weren’t viable, but the pressure to innovate because of the competition must provide greater incentives to do so than merely buying up all the talent.

Cheers,

Ed
> On 15 Jun 2016, at 23:09, Rafal Charlampowicz via gui-talk <gui-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> And how many screen readers are available for IOS? :-) 
> I'm JAWS and NVDA user, but I agree this is a terrible news. Competition is good. 
> --
> Rafal
> 
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Arrigo
>> via gui-talk
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 9:05 PM
>> To: gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Mike Arrigo <n0oxy at charter.net>
>> Subject: [gui-talk] {Spam?} Re: JAWS and Window Eyes Now Owned By the
>> Same Company
>> 
>> I think this is a sign of the times that expensive screen readers are on the way
>> out. With free options such as system access and NVDA, and, at least at this
>> point, window eyes being free to Office users, there's really no reason to
>> spend that kind of money for a screen reader. Even narrator in windows 8 and
>> windows 10 offers more functionality than ever before. This company now
>> has a monopoly on the paid screen reader market, aside from Dolphin in the
>> U.K. This makes me even more glad that I have left the Windows world and
>> use the mac exclusively, at least for home use.
>> Original message:
>>> I am afraid I agree with your speculation about Window-eyes being
>>> fazed out in consequence of this acquisition.  Even though I was a
>>> JAWS user back in my windows days, I’d hate to see window-eyes go away
>>> like it looks like it might now.  If this benefits anybody, I suspect
>>> we can predict that the folks over at NVDA will soon be quite happy as
>>> they will gain quite a few thousand users now.
>> 
>> 
>>> Sent from my Mac, The only computer with full accessibility for the
>>> blind built-in
>> 
>>> Sincerely, The Constantly Barefooted Ray Still a very happy Mac,
>>> Verizon Wireless iPhone6+ and Apple TV user!!!!!
>> 
>>>> On Jun 15, 2016, at 11:12 AM, Gerald Levy via gui-talk
>>>> <gui-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>> For those of you who may have missed this bombshell, VFO, the parent
>>>> company of Freedom Scientific, which markets JAWS, has acquired AI
>>>> Squared, which markets the rival screen reader, Window Eyes.  This
>>>> development does not bode well for Window Eyes users, because such
>>>> mergers invaribly lead to consolidation of products and services to
>>>> reduce costs and eliminate competition, and Window Eyes, having the
>>>> smaller market share than JAWS is likely to be phased out and its
>>>> users transitioned to JAWS, although this is just speculation on my part.
>>>> But it would make no economic sense for VFO to continue marketing and
>>>> supporting two essentially similar screen readers.  .  And with
>>>> System Access already on life support and its future uncertain, the
>>>> demise of Window Eyes would leave JAWS with a virtual monopoly in the
>>>> commercial screen reader market,  which could lead to even higher
>>>> prices.  On the other hand, JAWS might eventually incorporate
>>>> features from Window Eyes that it does not already offer, making it more
>> attractive.  For more details:
>> 
>>>> http://www.blindbargains.com/rss/latest.xml
>> 
>>>> Gerald
>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> gui-talk mailing list
>>>> gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for gui-
>> talk:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk_nfbnet.org/rforet7706%40co
>>>> mcast.net
>> 
>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> gui-talk mailing list
>>> gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for gui-
>> talk:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk_nfbnet.org/n0oxy%40charter.
>>> net
>> _______________________________________________
>> gui-talk mailing list
>> gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for gui-talk:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-
>> talk_nfbnet.org/rafalchar%40gmail.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gui-talk mailing list
> gui-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for gui-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk_nfbnet.org/ergreen1981%40gmail.com