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Re: Monitoring JAWS adoption trends for testing/support

for

From: Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
Date: Feb 21, 2007 9:20AM

For my two cents, we currently still test and use only version 6.X.

We have a locked-down environment and only provide our official screen
reader to users unless they have a specific individual accommodation
need for a newer version. We would purchase a license for 8.X (what the
vendor sells) and use 6.X; the vendor doesn't understand our business
need for this support, but it is required in our environment.

That said, we've been keeping track of updates and will be evaluating
8.X as our official version soon. Also, since we use more than one
operating system we will be considering adding Linux specific screen
reader(s) in our next policy update
(http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/hand/as508a/508a_c3.html#Iv8D11399mudg)

We have so many web based applications and software applications that
moving to "the latest version" is difficult and costly. Added to our
desktop environment where users cannot install software that requires
administrative rights and it becomes technically difficult. We've found
that our public users also benefit from applications that we know work
with a version (or two) behind. We can draw some accurate assumptions
that if it works in a previous version of JAWS that is works in the
current version.

Regards,


Norman B. Robinson
Section 508 Coordinator
IT Governance, US Postal Service
phone: 202.268.8246


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of
<EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:04 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Monitoring JAWS adoption trends for testing/support


I am a newbie to this forum and looking for input on JAWS support. My
company has decided to test and support only 1 screen reader, and that
is
JAWS. The problem comes when deciding which version to test. For
browser
support, we meet monthly to review stats from Web Trends, along with
industry stats to make data-driven decisions. Since this data does not
appear to exist (anywhere that I have looked thus far) for screen
readers,
we want to determine if there is an alternate way to track adoption
trends
for JAWS users. Freedom-Scientific has not been helpful thus far (their

recommendation is to always use the latest and greatest). So if I know
that last month the stats looked like this:

v8.xx 10%
v7.xx 55%
v6.xx 10%
other 25%

We would only test/support v7.xx. Then next month, if it changes to:

v8.xx 50%
v7.xx 35%
v6.xx 10%
other 5%

We would switch to v8.xx and drop support of v7.xx.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Costa Avradopoulos
Manager, Software Quality
Ecommerce - Product Development
<EMAIL REMOVED>

CheckFree. The business of money uncomplicatedSM.
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