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Re: Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

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From: Christophe Strobbe
Date: Jul 25, 2011 3:21AM

At 19:27 20-7-2011, Steve Green wrote:
>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.

I can confirm the same for Belgium. Even though refund schemes exist, it
is still possible to meet users who are at JAWS 7. (You can't apply for
a refund every year.)

Best regards,

Christophe



>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
>
>
>