Category: Geeks r Us
System access review, part 1: Introduction, looking at our world
I recall back in 2009 I did a Windows 7 compatibility test run. It was reviewed using one of the latest Pre-rc builds, Windows 7 7057. (Read the review
here,)
Those were the days when Microsoft was already set in stone with what it wanted with Windows 7. Ribbons. A new calculator. A revamped wordpad. UI automation....
My 7057 review was really the only one in which I tried to do a true screen reader benchmark and providing some details on each result. I suppose I could of been more detailed and clearer though. This is for sure one of my objectives in the future. However, Windows 7 was more of a minor OS. The next release of Windows will no doubt be a more major OS, and you can count that I'll be there ripping it apart.
In the RC review of Windows 7, I stated the following.
"...Window-eyes, curiously, did not have this video intercept problem. By far, however, System access remains the most usable screen reader for Windows 7."
I was not a heavy user of System Access, by no means. However I did consider it for benchmarking because, as several of my readers pointed out, JAWS is not the only access solution out there.
I suppose that the issues I faced with JAWS were what ultimately made me realize that reader input-not just implementing it in my reviews, but also in my own personal lifestyle. Issues which weren't just present during the beta stage of Windows 7. Video intercepting breaking on you unexpectedly. JAWS not working well with the wordpad ribbons. Notepad not working well-when reading notepad text and up-arrowing, other window contents is heard. In version 10, not having access to the System tray. The system properties dialog displaying "blank" when reviewing it with the JAWS Cursor.
All of these problems are understandable during a beta product such as Windows 7. I suppose JAWS got lucky, because the 11 release was made public only a few days before Windows 7 hit the shelves. That's a lot better than the way it took a few months for Vista to actually be accessible. I remember those days too, because I virtually spent my life in Vista way before it's release. I've been told, "it's your problem. You could of stuck with XP during the Vista release cycle and with Vista when 7 became available."
I can perfectly understand this reasoning for anyone who is comfortable with their computers and use it day to day, being familiar with their access technology (JAWS in this scenario) and Operating System.
But I like adventure. I like risks, crashes, smoking cd-drives, beeping computer speakers, having to use braille displays for a week due to no sound, and all sorts of other bizarre things that have happened to me over the past 5 years. Yes, I did have a time when the cd-drive in my Toshiba laptop broke after a Longhorn beta was installed-turns out, due to the cd-drive being given too much power to.
And I don't think I'm the only one in the blind community who loves this sort of adventure. I have contacted Freedom Scientific both during my Longhorn beta testing and when testing 7. When testing Longhorn, I sent an e-mail to them about the numerous problems with their product during my findings. I received no response. During my windows 7 testing, I again called and told them that I'm testing 7 and finding difficulties, and asked if there is any possibility of joining their beta community and helping out?
I was told that Windows 7 isn't supported and that I should use Vista or XP instead.
After JAWS 11 was released, issues still persisted, such as the Mirror Display Driver clicking out randomly. This was solved perhaps 3 months later with an update. Problems with notepad reading other screen contents, however, remain. Crashes when using certain Sapi5 engines are also there. Try using JAWS with Loquendo quickly.
All of this recently made me start considering other solutions for access. After receiving my JAWS SMA notice, I knew clearly that I would not be paying $200 or $260 for two more JAWS releases, because Ever since version 7, it has been going sort of downhill.
However, I can see several advantages with the product which not many others have. Supporting multiple soundcards? This is useful when I do my talk show every night. I'm able to switch to my secondary soundcard with JAWS and use Stereo mix on air to broadcast all the music and sounds I might use during the program. While I've never used the script manager, JAWS could be thought of as the iTunes store in the sense that so many third-party scripts are available to download and easily use with any mainstream application.
NVDA changed a lot over the three years when I last used it. It has grown with more features, new dialogs, and has gotten stronger over time. The community behind NVDA also grew. incredibly, in fact. I've never received as many feedback letters from the Hungarian community about NVDA as I did during the last few months.
NVDA is also one of the screen readers, aside from JAWS and Window-eyes, that supports my multiple soundcard idea. It is localized in over 20 languages. Recently it is getting Display hooks implemented, which will bring it close to what System Access could provide when looking at feedback, at least when it comes to using methods to obtain information.
But NVDA is bottlenecked by it's open source nature as well. While anyone can modify it, Jamie and Mick are the two main developers of the product. Others contribute and help out, but you have to go step by step to provide certain functionality.
This, however, provides NVDA with the ultimate stability among screen readers. They aren't focused on getting updates or product releases out quickly;Rather, NVDA goes is it goes. When a feature is being implemented, generally it will take several months for it to appear, so in this regard there is a disadvantage. But you can be rest assured that the display model in NVDA will be one of the most ultimate and rock solid display models you've seen come out of any product in 3 months time.
The different priorities with NVDA allow it to focus upon a different user target. NVDA targets a lot of the international population and also a certain population looking for a JAWS replacement which is somewhat more customizable. NVDA's dialogs allow it to be very highly customized, and if you wanted to go beyond that you can always modify more advanced things using python code and by compiling your source. It has truly been a change to the way many use their computers. I will always admire Mick's courage to work with Jamie and quietly revolutionize the Visually Impaired market.
Window-eyes was actually one of the first screen readers I used personally as a blind person. It is again highly configurable, and relatively cheaper when compared to JAWS. Application support is less than what scripts you'd find for Freedom Scientific's product. Window-eyes, however, was again one of those screen readers that worked with Windows 7 almost out of the box. They still used Display chaining, yet Windows 7 didn't really face many issues. Even the ribbons in Wordpad and the new calculator interface worked well during the Release Candidate of 7. On the downside, "...The Single User License is the most common and simplest to explain - it is either one person or one computer. ".
This means that my two-computer setup would not work with Window-eyes. I can't put Window-eyes on more than one machine, at least according to GWMicro. Thumb drives? They work with, but you need to put the video chains on the computer in question.
Now let's move on to System access. This will be a longer comparison here, because this review is focused on looking at each advantage and disadvantage of the product.
During my testing, I focused on several key areas, just as promised in my intro article. Customer Service. Technical Support. Application compatibility. Application Crashes. Stability.
There were a wide array of factors which made me stick with System Access and go out to buy the product less than 24 hours ago. On a personal level, I wanted a product that I did not need to circumvent to use on both my machines. I also wanted something during college that I could use on any computer with most of my college software. I have NVDA to use with that idea, as it is highly portable, requiring no more than 20 mb of space.
System access, in theory however, could offer more features. What if I was in college and needed a file which I did on my desktop PC that is in my dorm? And the deadline for it is that class period, so I want to give it to my professor without having to go back across campus to my room and e-mailing it? I could use that desktop in my dorm through remote access features built into the Mobile Network. This I think is an incredible freedom, because you have the ability to access any of your computers from other college computers. I always loved remote access and wanted a program which could offer it to me without having to pay an extra license for the reader and an additional program that would use cytrix.
There is also the question of how well System Access will support next Windows releases. When Windows 7 was being tested, NVDA had some stability issues, though Mick and the community were well aware and fixed it all even before the release date.
System Access, on the other hand, did not experience many if any stability challenges under Windows 7. It just, worked. Same could be said for Vista. I'm not exactly sure how the actual program is constructed, but there is a pretty solid foundation invested within this screen reader. We'll talk more about that when I discuss application crashing experiences.
Since my goal here is to discuss all perspectives to the product at hand, I must talk of disadvantages which are evident in System Access also. First and foremost, is that because of it's simple design, some could say that it "lacks" a lot of functionality. You have a virtual mouse, some keyboard shortcuts for labeling screen elements, system tray list, to open the system access menu, pass through a key to an application, and perhaps a few others not mentioned here. Overall, it probably is not more than 20-25 commands.
Stability also seems more sluggish when compared to JAWS. This is definitely more noticeable when fast-typing with typing echo on, and when moving through my g-mail inbox using the basic view of Gmail. On my quad core desktop it is a bit faster, but when we're talking about a very low-powered atom Netbook, it's essential that performance and CPU usage be lowered as much as possible.
With that said, webpage navigation is so much superior, and this is increasingly becoming Serotek's strong point. The web today is so important to our world that you cannot live without using it. Not only does System Access have c-SAW (Community-Supported Accessible Web), but will place you on the main portion of a website when it has loaded. C-saw could be likened to Web Visum's approach to website labeling, though clearly Serotek was first in implementing this and thus has a much larger database of labeled websites. In my review, we will discuss C-SAW in more detail and what this "instant-jump" as I like to call it, means to people like me who constantly use the Internet. It has proven to be very useful especially when wanting to skip past through long lists of advertisements.
Both NVDA and System access load a webpage into their buffers once the site has fully loaded. Because I'm on a dial-up Internet connection, I often hit escape to stop page loading within Internet Explorer, allowing me to read it without loading any third-party advertising sites, graphics, and in some cases unneeded text. JAWS is able to render the page even when it is loaded this way, whereas System Access needs the page to fully load and for the browser to provide a signal when it can render it. On a fast Internet connection, this is clearly less of a problem than when using my cell phone's Internet or-worse yet-the 28.8 KBPS dial-up.
Unlike many screen readers, I don't see a way to route System Access' audio to my secondary soundcard. Its probably not a feature many consumers will want, but for me it means that for an hour each day I'll have to switch to using NVDA or JAWS.
SamNet was also one of the strong points I found to SA. It integrates very well with anyone's life, and it has so much potential to serve the older-generation who might not know how to use the Internet. Serotek originally was set on providing older seniors with technology (as demonstrated by their first product in 2001, Freedom Box), but System Access has advanced to allowing even the younger generation to a rich network which they could use for Facebook and to chat with other people with their interests. SamNet also includes audio described movies, radio stations, and a host of other content. I don't know if there is any real way of comparing it to any existing solutions, but I'd say that it's roughly like an iPod Touch for the blind, accept of course that you can't really develop apps for SamNet but have a wide range of already pre-installed content to use. Oh, and there is no touch screen, small device, etc. So it is like an iPod touch in the sense of content delivery and included tools. There are ways to check your weather, local news, and access Facebook/Twitter, more.
dialog boxes:
I have found that it's important to me, the consumer, to know what is in a windows dialog and to receive the information that I need when tabbing around any dialog. Let us take the Windows Vista/7 system page for example.
Here is how it would read with JAWS, when tabbing around. I recommend that if you are using a screen reader and say all to read this review, that you simply read line by line until this is demonstrated in order to get a more realistic effect.
With JAWS:
System. Windows Experience index link.
Tab. Change Settings link.
Tab. 16 Days to Activate. activate Windows now link.
tab. Change Product key link.
tab. Toolbar Desktop split button.
Now let us look at this same dialog with System access.
"system. View basic information about your computer. Windows edition: Windows 7 Ultimate. Copyright copyright 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. System. Rating. Windows Experience Index link.
AMD Phenom (TM), 2x955 processor 3.20 GHz. 4.00 GB, 2.75 GB usable, 32-bit operating system. No pen or touch input is available for this display. Tomi-pc. Change settings link.
Windows activation. 16 days to activate. Activate Windows now. link
Tomi-PC. Workgroup. Change Product key link.
Tool bar. Desktop. Split button.
"
And finally, this same dialog with NVDA:
"
System. Windows logo Window. System CPL main Window window. Windows Experience Index link.
Cgange Settings link.
16 days to activate. Activate Windows now link.
Change product key link.
"
Notice that both with System Access and NVDA, the word tab is not pronounced when moving around dialogs. I actually prefer this-JAWS by default will say tab when navigating dialogs each time. I do believe that this can be customized though somehow. Key repeat?
When looking across to the verbosity of all threee screen readers, it is clear that System Access will provide you with the most relevant information. With JAWS, I always had to use the JAWS cursor in order to read my computer information and experience index. System Access will read outloud most dialogs in this way which means that you don't have to use special cursors to do so.
When in computer, it will even tell you how much of a drive is being used. Again, I'm highly certain that this is configurable with JAWS somehow, but I have not looked into it and prefer to use all screen readers without having to do any tweaking or high-end configuration in order to get access to certain information I need.
We can't exclude NVDA either. As you could tell, NVDA has the least support for the system dialog. I also don't see a way to read the information such as computer name in it-object navigation always tells me that there is no parent and only seems to move you to the next link in the dialog. Again, if a sufficient review cursor is implemented by means of the display model, this will be an issue of the past. You can always go into your experience Index, click view and print details, and then read the webpage which displays your system information.
I've read NVDA's documentation, but if anyone knows a way to review such dialogs with NVDA, please do comment or personally tell me and the review can always be updated to include this information.
Company is important!:
Back to System access. I do see a lot of potential in it's future, just as I see so much in NVDA. When looking at any screen reader, it's background is highly important. How it was created, where the company and people who created the product are now, and what the corporation is focusing on. Henter-joice was made by the right CEO, and it's merging with Arkinstone and Blazey Engineering allowed it to expand more into the commercial sector. Until about 2006, JAWS was an excellent product, both when it came to stability and product features. I recall that there was some happenings with it and an investment company named Wafra, though I am not exactly clear on the buyout or what happened.
Nevertheless, it appears that that company is now heading more into the low-vision sector. Take a look at the portable viewers and magnifiers it is flagshipping now.
Everyone would also do well to listen to the Serotek Story part I podcast, which can be found on www.serotalk.com in the month of January. It gives in detail the history of Mike Calvo-Serotek's CEO and how he began his company in 2001. The story is truly fascinating and should accompany this review, as it will allow you to get a sense of who the people behind the corporation are. You will see a big difference between Freedom Scientific's first eight years and Serotek's current eight year history. I'm not here to provide a history lesson, but if you can and want to, I recommend that you compare this information not just in order to know the company you are dealing with, but to also see the dedication behind each one.
NVDA was also, I think, created by a person who changed our worlds. Mick began working on NVDA with Jamie in 2006. I remember the very first releases of the free screen reader-r380, r425, r480... and watch it through to today. The dedication they have towards developing and planning out their project is very exact and they work ahead releases to 2-3 upcoming ones in the future. While NVDA is now at 2010.1, I've seen references to 2010.3 on the development list.
final thoughts:
I know there were several factors to my purchase of System Access. While I understand and hope that this portion of my review helped put the screen reader market in perspective for everyone, I also fully understand how a product might be good for someone yet unsatisfying for others. There are, no doubt, disadvantages and advantages right now to each screen reader in competition. This simply emphasizes that "there is no perfect world" but also leaves room for all of them to improve upon their existing feature sets and innovate more.
Once you purchase System access, you will not have to pay Software Maintenance Agreement prices. Over 3 years time, I would have to spend $400-520 on JAWS in order to get the next two releases and after those are over, the next two. Looking at the $1300 investment which has to be made in order to purchase a professional copy of JAWS, most consumers would expect that for the large price an SMA could be waved. In the Visually Impaired market, however, it has become standard to pay SMAs. Not just for screen readers;But also when updating note-takers and other product.
I am extremely happy that I put $400 into System Access and know that if I wanted to keep it as my screen reading solution, I would never be "forced" into paying upgrade prices in order to continue usage over the years. It's definitely one of Serotek's strong selling points. Sure, it is true that I don't have access to the mobile network at that introductory price, nor can I create a u3 flash drive copy. However it is always possible for me to expand my license by purchasing any of these additional components after any period of time. Perhaps in college, or when I'm an adult capable of sustaining a high paying job.
Until our market reflects lower prices and the discontinuation of many practices, Freedom Scientific will most likely continue holding the monopoly status it does today. So far, they really haven't budged in lowering prices and making licensing options more flexible. Competition does catch up eventually though. As companies like Serotek and people such as those over at NVDA innovate, it seems as though JAWS will sport less and less features useful to the consumer. Furthermore, a lot of features which can be found in JAWS will be added into these other competing products. I don't see GWMicro going down either, because they do allow options such as paying for Window-eyes month by month and their product does not cost $1000 but rather is more in reach for consumers. I haven't used Window-eyes in a while and thus cannot comment on it's performance, but it is safe to say that GW does listen to consumer input and hopefully knows when new features should be implemented in order in order to catch up with the competition.
Because Serotek is still a fairly young company, I'm certain that a lot of innovation will come from their products where as JAWS and Window-eyes will probably focus more on the stability and developer tools side of the market. There is already a lot to credit to Serotek. They were the first in a lot of ways. People expect such things as portable flash drive support to be part of any screen reading product today. In truth, Serotek was really the one who lead that trend and this means that their product will exhibit it the best. I really have high hopes for both System Access and NVDA. I'm also confident that as our world moves forward and the years continue passing by, the $400 which I put down today will be something I can appreciatively consider well worth it. Time and time again, the blind community has demonstrated that it has a voice and that it can use this very assertively when there is a general dislike for a company or product move. As long as all the CEOs understand and continue listening to this voice rather than their own profits, chances are that their company will lead the future in competition, feature richness, and flexibility.
Tamas Geczy
April 7-8, 2010
Stay tuned! Coming soon...
part 2-System access: The Key to Freedom and Portability
Part 3 - Stability and compatibility
part 4-usability, general features, and customer service,
part 5-overall Conclusions and final thoughts
I really enjoyed this read. Thanks for posting it.
I'd like to hear more about using screen readers on a netbook. I'm wondering if system access may be a better option than one of the larger screen readers?
Keep the info coming! *smile*
Tomi,
You really amaze me in what you do.
Keep the information coming!
Nice review as always. Look forward to part 2.
wow! very well written and good job of explaining the differences betweene all the different screen readers and there capabilities.
thanks for the feedback everyone! I've started working on Part 2, though my Mac changes have certainly slowed me down a bit. I'll probably be rolling out my conclusions of the mac tomorrow and than write part two of this. For saving clutter on the board, it will be posted in this thread.
As for using a screen reader on the netbook... JAWS, believe it or not, is the best way to go still. It has the best performance even on netbooks and it doesn't lag when typing echo is on. With that said, expect less application crashes from System Access.