# Can't decide, need to update screen reader

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 13:27:37

Ok, I'm only debating updating wineyes or purchasing system access. The price would turn out to be so similar. This won't be immediate but definitely, within the next couple months.
I'm getting so tired of a handfull of items on websites not working. Mostly flash items.
Part of me feels like stick with what I know and pay for the full meal deal of wineyes.
The other part of me says, system access is so affordable and updates are priced low as well.
I'm just wondering, will I miss things like custom dictionaries, easy mouse support. Those are the top 2 that come to mind.
I don't know what to do. I'm not the girl that updates her screen reader every year. I believe it has been 3 or 4 years since I've updated wineyes. I'm currently working with version 5.5.
Any thoughts and advice. Best bang for my buck?
Two posative points for system access, seems to work well with flash and of course, there is that brilliant idea of screen reader on a thumb drive.
Anyway, I'm looking for some tech advice. Thanks all!

## Post 2 by Austin (the magic fan!) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 13:54:04

i'm thinking of going to system access myself. system access has no smas. wich is the ggreatest thing in the world in my book. i'm using jaws 9.0 and fs can go to hell if they think i'm gonna hand them 300 dollars or so just so i can have 2 new versions of jaws. don't think so. i can bbuy system access for the same price and i will have lifetime updates. also, there is an adam processor edition for 149 bucks as well.

## Post 3 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 15:40:13

Out of curiosity, do you know if any version of system access will work on a netbook, or does it need to be the atom version?
My guess, is any of them. If I had the mobile drive, then I could just put it on the machine that way.

## Post 4 by PorkInCider (Wind assisted.) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 15:46:21

I know nothing of system access, but consider if you update windoweyes, that you can and have been able to for a while now use it on a thumb drive, there is an installer for that purpose. Plus now with scripting, java just became accessible, as is anything else pretty much if a programmer wishes to script it. most scripts though not all so far seem to be writen in visual basic, not sure if you yourself are a programmer, if so you could write your own.

## Post 5 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 16:17:33

Well, in some aspects these are different beasts. Window Eyes is very heavy duty, supports specialized environments through scripting (programming, Excel/Office support etc) and can be customized to fit a lot of different types of software. I met someof the developers of Window Eyes and I'm veryimpressed with their skill and vission, I met some of the FS guys too, didn't like 'em one bit but I've just used Jaws for so long it's hard to quit. Braile support is huge for me, which is another point in favor of WE although System Access is up and coming. SA is very good general computer user software, but they don't really go out of their way to make "professional" products accessible unless there's big demand forit. It ismore light weight tool in a sense but I am also very impressed with how they are trying to both bring in new users and also the way they retrieve their info from the OS, which is much more stable and less resource intensive than the other screen reader guys.
I'd say both, if you could possibly afford it. Two extra notes: I do not buy SMAs any more, I find every other version of Jaws has nothing to add to the previous version except better support with a chat client or two and often is less stable, better to just pay forthe upgrades you want. Also I believe the SA for Atom processors is the same as any other SA, they're just making it a cheaper choice for people who already use WE or Jaws on their big shot computers to draw them in. I just got a netbook and I am tempted to get the Mobile SA software, in fact very likely I will. I'm not sure what they'll do when we start seeing a bunch of processors, I guess the software checks the laptop for what processor is installed before it runs so they could simply add to the list of eligible processors.
Cheers
-B

## Post 6 by changedheart421 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 16:52:05

I am turning to WinEyes next year as well. It seems so much more stable.

## Post 7 by va3ets (Veteran Zoner) on Friday, 06-Mar-2009 17:10:57

I was tired of what FS wasdoing, and tired of Windows in general, , and didn't want to pay $300 or whatever it would've been to renew my SMA, so I'd heard a lot of good stuff about what Apple was doing with VoiceOver, and the mac, so a year ago now, I switched to the mac,and am loving it. Sure it's quite a learning curve, but i've loved it ever since i've switched.

## Post 8 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 10-Mar-2009 13:28:58

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm not a programmer, wouldn't know where to start.
The biggest thing I've tweaked in wineyes is going into the laptop text file and customizing the hotkeys. I love it! No need for a fricken USB keypad!
A small note here, the way I understood it, is wineyes on a USB drive isn't as streight forward as system access. Before you use the drive on another computer, you may need permission or do something with the video? I'm not sure. I just thought I read, that system access was vertually plug and play as such.

## Post 9 by chikorita (move over school!) on Tuesday, 10-Mar-2009 14:38:49

Hi,
Not sure, I think GW may have done something about that.

## Post 10 by data (Cheese flows through my veins!) on Tuesday, 10-Mar-2009 14:42:07

Yes, System Access is very much plug and play. I use it on a thumb drive almost daily and it works great! Nothing to install or manage. Just insert the drive and thirty seconds later you have speech. Also, Serotek has a plan where you pay $25 per month for four years. For this, you get System Access (with the ability to create a thumb drive version), the Neospeech voices and access to the SA Mobile network. Pretty sweet deal! I do wish they supported more refreshable Braille displays, but I am sure this is coming.

## Post 11 by Dirty Little Oar (I'd rather be rowing.) on Tuesday, 10-Mar-2009 16:45:58

I just purchased SA mobile while Serotek had it on sale for their birthday. I am really pleased with it. I still have Jaws 7 on my computer, but I haven't touched it since I got SA. If you're still undecided, you can get a 30 day trial of SA, SA mobile and the SA mobile network. I tried out all 3 before I purchased and it really helped me reassure myself that I didn't need jaws. I have no regrets about my purchase and love the fact that I will never have to pay for an upgrade. In fact, I am so happy with SA that I am considering selling my Pac-Mate and getting a netbook instead. I could get a netbook for less than it costs for one year of a PMA and SMA for my Pac-Mate. That is extremely tempting. FS can bite my ass. I am tired of giving those pricks all my money.
And yes, it is true that you can use the regular SA on a netbook. The Atom version of SA is just a gimick to get people into SA a little cheaper. SA and SA mobile both work on netbooks so you don't have to buy the Atom version in addition to the regular version.