Thoughts on Screen Readers

Assalamu alaikum, I got into a recent discussion (see recent comments above) regarding Freedom Scientific (henceforth referred to as FS) and System Access/Serotek (henceforth referred to as SA). I have a policy that I don’t fight the screen reader wars. I’m not going to hate on someone who uses GW Micro, or Serotek products, or whatever. I’ll be up front and say that I’m primarily a Jaws user and have been since 1998 when I first started to learn to use Windows. And I was a Jaws user because that is what my university had, although up to that time I’d been a Vocal-Eyes user, before of course moving to Windows. And it’s not that I don’t like Window-Eyes (I can’t quite seem to master it for some reason, though), nor System Access (which I actually do have on my machine and have learned to master it pretty much), it’s just that I’ve just always stuck with Jaws.

Why you might ask? Because in my opinion, it is a good screen reader and it does what I need it to do pretty much when I need it to do it with usually little phenagling on my part, which is what I want. I’m not going to trash Jaws as a screen reader just because I don’t always like the practices of the company that owns it. And perhaps the techies know more about the gutts of Jaws and they are better equipped to fuss at something they find wrong or some bug that Jaws has that FS supposedly has refused to fix, or whatever. However for me, the pretty much average computer user, Jaws works for me.

I’m currently using Jaws for Windows 10 with a Focus 40 Braille display, and for me, Braille support is a must for any product that I’m going to purchase/use on a regular basis. And if there was any screen reader that I was ever going to switch to (without going all out and purchasing a Mac and switching to Voiceover), it probably would be System Access.
However, there are a few things that keep me from switching. First, it won’t support my current Braille display, unless and until I guess Jaws puts out generic Windows drivers for it. And I don’t have the thousands of dollars it would take to purchase a Braille display. Perhaps, in order to facilitate the switch to System Access for Braille users who currently have non-supported Braille displays, System access could work with the companies that manufacture the Braille displays that they do support and perhaps we could have some kind of a payment plan that would allow us to more easily afford to purchase the Braille display that would work with System Access.

Secondly, I have a quirky machine that for some reason locks up if I have SA start up at the windows login screen. It will start talking just fine, but when I go to log in, the whole machine locks up, which pretty much locks me out of Windows altogether and thus my system. It’s a good thing that from the log in screen, I was able to readjust my settings to not have System access start up at the log in screen, or else I’d have been in pretty serious trouble, pretty much turning my machine into a huge brick.

Another reason why I’ve not completely switched over to System access is that I’m not sure that SA has the equivalent of the Jaws cursor, which pretty much gives you an unrestricted view of the screen, where you can move around and pretty much click on what you want. The closest thing I’ve seen to this is the “Virtual Mouse”, however, it only gives you access to the icons on the screen, and you’re restricted to where you can move around.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. If my Windows firewall blocks a program, a little box, which isn’t really a standard dialogue box, will pop up and notify me that my firewall has blocked a program. Now, if your screen reader isn’t at just the right place at the right time, it’ll miss this. However, you’ll know that a dialog is there because it’s covering up other items on the desktop. Now, with my Jaws cursor, I can move around the screen, on my desktop, find the box, left mouse click on it, which then will bring it into focus where I can tab through it and click on the option I want. Now, I’m not sure if System Access, or any other screen reader for that matter, has this option. Perhaps they do and I’m just not aware of it or don’t know how to use it.

But the use of the Jaws cursor is something that I have to have, especially at work where I use a system which connects via a tn3270 terminal (I think) and Jaws won’t automatically read, or at least not well anyway, what’s in that window, and I’ve tried using SA for that and it’s worse than Jaws. The only way to make that program accessible to me is by using the Jaws cursor to read the data on the screen and the PC cursor to enter the data.

Now of course, if there was a way that I could switch to a screen reader, that does what Jaws does, accesses the programs I need to do my job, or just to simply get done what I want done, and if it’s cheaper, of course I’d switch, who wouldn’t? Most of us who use Jaws are either doing so out of necessity or perhaps because we are happy with the program and it does for us what we need. I just don’t like the hateful rhetoric. If you don’t like Jaws or FS’s policies, and if you can find another comparable screen reader, go for it. I sure would, and am even considering purchasing a Mac the next time I’m in the market for a new computer. And if there was a way that I could get SA to work with my machine without it locking it up, and if I could either afford a new Braille display that would work with SA, or if SA started working with my existing display, you can but I’d make the switch. Especially as there’s no cost for any future upgrades. I’d even consider switching from Jaws to SA at work, if I knew that all of the programs I needed would work with SA, and again, if I could get Braille support.

And currently, as I’ve mentioned before, I have SA on my computer and I do use it on occasion. I also have a System Access Mobile Network account and I use that on a fairly regular basis also. I also purchased a Small-Talk Ultra from GW Micro a few years back, so I can’t really fight the screen reader wars even if I wanted to because I’ve bought products from all three of the better known screen reader companies, the fourth being Dolphin which I’ve not bought anything from them. I’ve even played around with NVDA, and if I could just learn to master that one, perhaps I’d even switch to using them. I’m not sticking with Jaws just because, as I’ve said earlier, I do have my reasons.

I’m not even sure why I’m even writing a post like this. I’m not sure why some of is in the blindness community want to make a huge issue out of things like this. It’s like if you use FS products you’re somehow “down with the man” or “supporting the blindist pig” or something. It’s really quite ridiculous. And it’s the same with dog guide schools. We like to fight these useless “my school is better than your school” or “my screen reader is better than yours” when really, there’s no need for it. There’s a reason why there are so many dog guide schools and somany screen reader manufacturers, and that’s because there’s a need in the market for them. If there wasn’t, the companies/schools wouldn’t be able to stay open/in business.