Category: accessible Devices
Whether you are an Apple user, or absolutely hate their products, you have probably benefitted from the work of Steve Jobs. When I was 9 years old, I had my first experience with a computer. It was an Apple 2E with an Echo speech synthesizer installed, running a program called Braille Edit. With this computer, I was able to type papers, proofread them with speech, or send them to a Braille embosser, and then, once ready, send them to the printer so sighted people could read them.
People who didn't know BAraille could type as normal, and what they typed could be brailled for me. As time marched on, I introduced a Xerox scanner to the system for OCR, and that computer and speech got me through high school.
At the time, PC's, and Dos were still a bit fiddly to use with screen readers, but advances were being made. I got my first Windows machine, and access to the Internet in 1998, but even then, nothing was as easy for me as that old Apple, and sadly, the Mac was inaccessible.
In 2004, the "Spoken Interface" was being talked about by Apple for its upcoming operating system, Tiger. When Tiger came out, most of the AT community was furious, because Steve Jobs and his company had went and built accessibility into the mainstream computer, without having to buy a separate piece of software or hardware from a Blindness specific vender at a cost of upwards what a new computer costs.
Fast forward to 2011, and we have fully accessible phones, tablet computers, desktops, laptops, and even a set-top box, all able to be purchased, and just used by blind folks because of this man's vision. Even Android users benefit, because Apple set the bar, and the competition had to follow. Blindness organizations are now pushing for off-the-shelf accessibility for more products because one tech company was bold enough to set the standard. The cost of blindness tech has fallen, in part, because of what Apple did under the leadership of Steve Jobs, and even Windows 8 will have a screen reader that works with much of the OS, and software built in the accessibility guidelines.
People like Steve Jobs are innovaters with technology, and whether you use Apple tech, or hate it, he has played a small part in the reason you can use off-the-shelf products with little to no modification. His pioneering spirit will be missed.
Thanks for writing this. It's all so true, and I think all blind people should be saddened today. We all owe a special debt of gratitude to Steve Jobs.
Yes, I agree, thanks from me as well,I too feel a special debt of gratitude to Steve Jobs, last evening while using my iphone to read the news I was quite sad, thanks to him I can use off the shelf products like my sighted counterpart. I have enjoyed my iphone tremendously. I have put its uses to great potential, and once more thanks to him and apple for producing products that is possible for the visually impaired to use as well.
Ah yes, I remember the Apple 2E. Wish I could get my paws on one now for nostalgic purposes. I wasn't even aware of Steve Jobs' death.
Steve Jobs was a visionary but more than that he responded to the concerns of his customers. He didn't add accessibility out of foresight or compassion. He did it because others saw a need and lobbied him to do so. An example of this was accessibility for the iPhone. Tiger had built-in accessibility in 2004 as stated Yet when the first iPhone came out two plus years later, accessibility wasn't included. It took a group of people to push Steve Jobs to implement accessibility and it eventually was. Because of this, Android is much more accessible than the IOS platform was in the same development cycle and more than it would be without Steve Jobs. If more and more heads of companies were half as responsive as Steve Jobs was, off the shelf accessibility would be as common place as the Automobile is. Combine his vision and his responsiveness to his customers needs and we have indeed lost a great leader and pioneer.
Absolutely. Android's accessibility, wile clunky and limited, was very much a stab at iPhone's initial inaccessible state. Steve Jobs, however, or engineers working for him, figured out somehow how to make the product accessible, and do it right. Say what you want about touch screens, but even folks like me who hate touch screens, and typically boycott products that contain them, have embraced iPhone.
I invision other products, such as set-top boxes, home appliances, etc., becoming more accessible because of Jobs' model. I do wish Apple would share their accessibility solution with people who also want to make their touch screen products work. It is my belief that accessibility shouldn't really be something to be patented, but shared for the greater good.
The odd thing about all this is that, although a lot of improvements have been made from an accessibility point of view in iOS 5, the Apple site only lists one of them.
My criticism of the Android platform is the same with Windows. You have to run 3rd party software to use these devices. Even if the software is free, the point still remains that for complete access, Apple is the only company who can boast that about its products. Not only that, but there is 0 support for braille displays in the Android market, even from 3rd party software. I understand the deaf-blind population is smaller than the blind population, so people don't push so hard for this access, but leaving that sector of the population out is just as wrong.
A eulogy worth reading, thank you sir.
I wasn't fortunate enough, and in part born to early, to get an Apple in school, but I love my iPod.
Steve Jobs innovated in a lot of ways for many besides us: even the fonts people now use got their start because Steve Jobs had a thing for Coligraphy in college, not sure if I'm spelling that right.
When I was a performing musician all the studio people used macs. I of course couldn't as I have no sight, but I would write sounds on the sytnesizer controller and upload them into a mac for storage, with the help of producers.
Though, like many on here, I am truly grateful for the accessibility on board new devices now. I can, with my iPod, do everything I need to do for the Coast Guard, something I could not claim for either Android or Windows Mobile, where the solutions are bumbling and bolted. For us, always ready doesn't mean always halfway connected, always opening one program to close it / open another just to access a link and hope the reader didn't just say button button button ...
all my sighted fellow flotilla members' devices are also Apple because of the good security and walled approach.
But back to the subject at hand, his innovation was great. Ironically, I wonder if he is the only person to have started a technology company, been fired from it, and then brought back years later? His story is interesting, and though I am not much of one for inspirational stuff, I'd say watch his Stanford commencement speech on Youtube.
Very good advice for people of any age, not just students.
A few years ago apple decided to make an issue out of the touch screen interface. How much this played in google's decission to not integrate its screen reader into the android os or if they wanted to leave it up to third party developers to implement options to give people a choice, I don't know. If I had a choice, I would choose aple's approach then Android's. the sad part, we can theoretically have both. if apple released the voiceover screenreader for third party developers to enhance, without depricating functionality tts access. Yet Android can allow full integration of tts into their operating system. by requiring a secure authentication structure and a way via usb to launch an installer app that would allow us to activate screen reader functionality if needed. I wish visionaries like Steve Jobs weren't the acception or as commonplace and unnoteworthy as the pebbles on the ground we walk on. We are so unfortunate that he has left us years before his vissions could be made as standard as the operation of the automobile is today.
Two words on Google and so-called accessibility:
Google Documents.
They deployed that at my daughter's school, and I, for one, am glad she isn't blind. I did help her with some of her things but none of the elements worked right.
People who get on a diatribe are just a bunch of marxists or fundamentalists, don't matter which just pick one, but completely obtuse when it comes to the needs of working, productive people.
Apple works great now because you can be very productive with it. It fails in its office applications with regards to tables and charts, not because I or someone else is so-called anti-Apple, but because you can't competitively use charts and tables like you need to.
But the Android fanchildren end up sounding like a bunch of overweaning, taxpayer-sponsored grant-seeking ivory tower Froot Loops who haven't a clue about the real world and what is required of working people.
Nobody can just turn around and say: "Oops. Sorry, guess I can't do that because I want this device and love the ideals behind it, but can't productively do what I'm hired / sworn / whatever, to accomplish."
For Android to get my support, the access needs to be such that a productive working person, not a ivory tower spokesperson, can actually get 'er done. Nothing else matters.
Nobody 'pushed' a touch screen interface on the masses: there have been touch devices running Windows Mobile and Blackberry for years, more Windows than Blackberry. Apple's was just newer, slicker better. But nobody is using a touch screen, or deploying devices with touch screens, because of the screen. That's just the hardware interface of the device. It's the brains and guts of the device that make it worth the money and time.
Try VPN to your netwrork at work with an Android. Go ahead, then log into it, and look at shared content through your Android browser. Windows Mobile used to lead the way on VPN and Exchange connections but Apple, as Enterprise-unfriendly as they have historically been, works better on these enterprise platforms than Windows Mobile ever did. Time for Android and its users to talk real turkey on these things.
I'm a apple user. i really love apple prodects.!! i would never. trade. it..
LeoGuardian, maybe you might want to think about looking in the mirror sometime. Everything you just accused others of doing, you do far worse.
Leo, I'm with you. That's why, in Windows land, Jaws has made a splash like it has, leaving every other screen reader to catch up. It just works! You don't have to think about how to geek the technology to make it work, it just does. I know, somebody's gonna argue that it doesn't work with everything, and that's fine. I'm a musician. If anyone knows the kinds of stuff that can't be done, I do, but for the average working man, Jaws does work, as clunky as it is.
The iPhone is not for everybody! There are hackers, and computer geeks who like to tinker. To them, I say, don't get an iPhone. Get an Android, root it, crash it, put it back together with your own customizations, and then look down your nose at all of us who are just trying to get something done with our technology, and can't be bothered with experimenting. At the end of the day though, I don't want to have to think about how to accomplish something wth my technology. I want it to just work! That's what Apple, and Jobs made things do. They just work!
Jesse, I am in total agreement with you, not with Leo based on his approach nor his acting like what suites him is what is expected for those who wish to be productive. In fact, many people are as or more productive in every day life than he is, but choose to use a different approach. They may Prefer to carry a notebook and tether it to their phone rather than use a phone or tablet to look at documents. Just because he wants that capability to do this doesn't make him the sole arbitor at what must be done. Back to your point though, just as Ted Henter has set the bench mark for accessibility with jaws, Steve Jobs has raised the bar for accessibility with, first the mac products, and now its I-product line as well. Will others catch up, yes and no, yes they will catch up, but if Steve jobs successor finds a way to add improvements then Apple will remain the leader on how to incorporate nearly full accessibility into its products. The rest is up to third party vendors to add to both platforms.
I like was said here, "you can tether" a android phone and use it as a modem. Truethly I use my netbook, my laptop more then I use my phone. Sorry but call me a spoiled brat but "I love my 4G speeds." Back to the topic, yes coodos to apple because believe it or not it was what pushed me to a HD2 then my android phone. Keep on inovating apple and "lets go" android in icecream sandwidge with full accessibility!. I will bee waiting and hoping that upgrade comes to my phone. If not its time to "root" the my touch 4G.
You can now tether an iPhone apparently, and as far as Android catching up, I may be talking out my ass here, but I have no doubt they will ultimately catch up maybe surpass. And then because the device will just work, more will start using it.
I, for one, may end up with an Android phone as a phone, tether to my existing iPod to do secure and reliable things, at least for now. But Android will not ever be as secure as the iOS platform or it would lose the unique benefits it actually has.
I agree about geeking and tweaking: many want to, and if I could just go buy a device for that purpose, getting an Andoid tablet or a Chromebook would be sweetness.
But I wouldn't do things on it that require the device to behave like an appliance.
And therein lies your difference: Your Android behaves like a PC: you can put anything and everything on it, while your iPhone behaves like what Steve Jobs called a Computing Appliance in the late 80s.
I am still surprised Apple's store has more apps in it: based on open architectures I would have guessed the Android market to have more. Again, all this will change perhaps, but the stark difference in device paradigm will probably remain the same, or both devices would be compromised.
If you lock down Android, you don't have Android as we now know it. If you open up iOS, you end up with less security.
that is so true, however a little tightening up in google's case for Android and loosening up in Apple's case doesn't have to result in destroying the attributes that make both devices what they are. Maybe in maybe set some standards for accessibility that all manufacturers of Android devices must guaranty, and provide more choice in in hardware design, a version with a hardware keyboard for those who desire it could go along to accomplishing this without compromising the attributes that make both platforms unique.
Oh, tighting the screws on phone makers and Cariers modifying android with their over lays. HTC I can live with but samson takes their wiz enterface and bareys it deep in the android OS.
I will be curious to know how Windows' Narrator is going to stack up against other screen readers. Will the AT people try to shut it down like they did to Voiceover on the Mac? I don't think they can at this point, because Jobs raised the bar too high. The revolution was unstoppable.
I agree. I personally thank Steve Jobs and hope that it leads to total accessibility without expensive add-ons.
I was saddened to hear of Jobs's passing when I read about it. It's obviously been about a month since that happened, but I will definitely miss his keynote speeches.
And as far as Android, I'm glad their striving for accessibility in their products as well, but what I'd like to see from them is to come up with their own ideas, rather than trying to make it look identical to iOS. Take a look at the features in Ice Cream Sandwich and you'll see what I mean.
actually, it doesn't and in fact some might claim that much of ios comes from Android as well. When it comes to accessibility, I don't think any of us really cares who came up with what, just as long as it works. as far as ice cream sandwich, I need to let you know that much of the design came from the people who designed the Cyanogen mod for the gingerbread release, melded with the look of the honeycomb release for tablets. If you are saying that ICS is copying iOS 4, maybe you have a point, but not iOS 5 as they came out to close for that to be the case and in fact would suggest that apple copied Android. Did you feel the same when the mouse, and the GUI apple uses came from xerox? Each company borrows ideas from their competitors, it is just the way business is done. True, they need to differentiate themselves and not violate patents, but other than that, we get what the consumer wants.
for those of you who haven't already, I highly recommend reading Steve Jobs' biography, by Walter Isaacson. Reading this has dramatically increased my level of respect for not only Steve Jobs, but for Apple as a company. The book explores the less admirable attributes of both Jobs, and of Apple, just as much as the triumphs. It's quite lengthy and very much in depth, but even if you're not a huge fan of apple, or of Steve Jobs, it's a good read.
As for his passing, I can only hope that someone possesses the passion that he did, and will carry that on well into the future. I'm sure he would rather have that happen than our grief and sadness, as valid as that has been.
No need to get so defensive. Yes, Google did borrow Apple's stuff, but they didn't differentiate themselves like Apple did. And I have iOS 5, and ice cream sandwich is identical to it.I've looked at it for myself.
And I have read the Steve Jobs biography. Jobs really does have a remarkable story, so I would recommend that book to anyone.
Not to put a damper on the pro-Steve-Jobs gayla going on here and elsewhere on the Internet, but my district captainand I were talking about this very topic last night.
Now we both use Apple devices rather than Android for our Coast Guard duties, primarily because of better security and a very always-ready status e.g. no crashes, etc.
But Steve Jobs had some very infuriating qualities, could easily alienate a lot of people. There were Apple stores which, the day before it opened, he went and visited. He didn't like the look of the floor or wallpaper or some other structure, and would order it redone. Amusing to some of us who know Apple snobs claiming Apple is so environmentally conscious / green, etc. Nothing is mor environmentally wasteful than the remodeling projects where you throw away perfectly good floor surface / wall paneling because of a shade of color. Stuff like that will muck things up for the environment your grandkids will live in far more than the gas-guzzler of an SUV glugging away down the highway. Tons of decadent, and wannabe-decadent, people do it, but pretty funny coming from a so-called environmentally conscious company.
He was pretty top-down, which has a pretty demoralizing effect except on the grunts who found their way to Most Favored Nation status.
You live in a free market economy: your gratitude isn't necessary. Your money is. Yours, plus all the returning Veterans from Iraq with concussion injuries which cause blindness and render them in need of these devices, plus aging baby boomers who aren't likely to just sit by in a rocking chair and go blind.
In fact, our chaplain is losing his eyesight and taking it like a man. He's a great candidate for one of these devices, because he is a bit of a technical neophyte plus losing his sight plus unwilling to just sit down and be blind. Except for the neophyte portion, he's every bit like you, only older and just losing it now.
Steve Jobs had the foresight to recognize this market, a foresight not all companies have had. And this market is unlikely to go to any public institution for help getting an expensive device.
Yes, I will agree, Jobs did have some bad sides to him. I thinkhe knew that, but he just didn't care. Just my take on it.
Also, let me add some light here about IOS having android's Icecream sandwidge taking from apple's OS, like cowboy 1 said every tech company or a lot of them have borrowed an idea or 2 from each other. Some of you are not going to like this but "your notification tray" in IOS5 was taken from android. Want proof!, look at how your apps now push notifications to your notification tray, lets not for get android has had that for a long time. This arguement could go on and on about who too from whom but all of them do it. Before apple creatd the Iphone, windows moble was sporting touch screen, along with nintendo.
for anybody to say that ios five was copied by ice cream sandwich knows nothing about software development. I am saying this because claims wer made that weren't true and nothing bugs me, more when two similar products come out at the same time and each accuses the other of copying. Ask yourself, which is more readily copied, open source or proprietary.