WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Jul 20, 2011 11:27AM

In our experience it is not unusual for people to be using JAWS versions
that are 4 versions old or more. The main reason is the cost of upgrading,
but that's not the only reason.

We recently did some work for the UK Home Office, and their standard desktop
had JAWS 8. They only update the standard desktop every few years, so they
can get well out of date in terms of browser and AT versions. This is not
uncommon with organisation that have to support tens of thousands of
desktops.

I know some people who always upgrade everything to the latest version and
others who never upgrade anything for the entire life of their machine -
there is no 'typical' behaviour.

Bear in mind that a disproportionate number of blind and visually impaired
people are unemployed or in low-paid jobs, so the cost of upgrading their AT
is very significant. Also some are wary about changing a system that works -
screen magnifier users have endless problems with ZoomText and Windows
upgrades, although JAWS does not appear to be as bad. If a user's AT does
not work after an upgrade, it can be especially difficult for them to fix
it.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of McDonald,
Jennifer
Sent: 20 July 2011 17:54
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

Thanks. I've reviewed that and was looking for a little more specific
information. Is anyone still on JAWS 9? Do people who use JAWS update IE
when a new version is out? Things like that. Would anyone who is using JAWS
12 still be using IE7? I'm trying to get a feel of how people maintain their
versions.

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Barry Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:46 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

WebAIM.org/projects/screenreadersurvey3/

Barry
*****************
On Jul 20, 2011 12:37 PM, "McDonald, Jennifer" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:
> Does anyone have any statics on JAWS version usage and browser version

> usage? We're working with WAI ARIA and we want to get an idea of the
> audience we will affect.
>
> If you are a user of JAWS what version do you use and what browser and

> version do you use with it?
>
> Jeni
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
> The information contained in this communication may be confidential,
> is
intended
> only for the use of the recipient(s) named above, and may be legally
> privileged. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> recipient,
you
> are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying
> of
this
> communication, or any of its contents, is strictly prohibited. If you
> have received this communication in error, please notify the sender
> immediately
and
> destroy or delete the original message and any copy of it from your
computer
> system. If you have any questions concerning this message, please
> contact
the
> sender.
>
==============================================================================>