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Re: Something's amiss with the latest survey

for

From: Lucy Greco
Date: Aug 28, 2015 1:27PM

i New we would face this day when MS gave the free ticket to we but not
that bad so soon. I am having a hard enough time still having to support
jaws when NVDA does so much better on web apps then any other screen
reader if your telling me i need to start testing with we i can't take it
is it time for me to move to that cave in the woods MS disrupted the
market when they moved in to we. now the screen reader that supports the
least web basics is gaining momentum. get me out of this industry before
i have to use more screen readers that suck Lucy

On Fri, Aug 28, 2015 at 12:18 PM, Moore,Michael (HHSC) <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> First let me be clear. I have been a fan of WebAIM, Karl Groves, TPG and
> this list for a while myself. But I have to respectfully disagree with my
> esteemed colleague regarding the value of the results as device to
> demonstrate the diversity of the screen reader user community.
>
> One alternative explanation for the increase in the number of users
> reporting ZoomText as a primary screen reader may simply be the wider
> dissemination of the survey. Through my work I have consistently
> encountered what seemed to be a larger number of people using ZoomText as a
> screen reader than was indicated by previous surveys. Given that my data
> was anecdotal rather than scientific I felt that it could simply be a
> product of my unique work environment that brought me in contact with a
> greater number of visually impaired users with lower levels of technical
> skills than the average accessibility specialist.
>
> As for the growth of Window Eyes - the Microsoft program is bound to have
> an impact. Particularly when you consider the number of enterprise
> customers who can now fulfill reasonable accommodation requests with a
> commercial, Microsoft endorsed (implicit), screen reading product.
>
> Mike Moore
> Accessibility Coordinator
> Texas Health and Human Services Commission
> Civil Rights Office
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Karl Groves
> Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 2:00 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: [WebAIM] Something's amiss with the latest survey
>
> Apparently it is "Karl causes fights on social media day" today. On
> Facebook it was the relative sanity of certain political candidates.
> On Twitter it is the latest Screen Reader Survey.
> http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey6/
>
> First, let me be clear: I've been a member of this list and a fan of
> WebAIM, its people, and its work since 2003. Among the most valuable
> resources they provide are their surveys on Screen Reader users and Low
> Vision users. I reference this work in a number of places - one of which
> being the training content that we deliver at TPG. I believe in WebAIM not
> only as an organization but as people.
>
> Something is up with the latest screen reader survey. From the survey
> "ZoomText (1.3% to 22.2%) and Window-Eyes (6.7% to 20.7%) both saw very
> significant increases in usage since January 2014."
>
> In 1 3/4 years, ZoomText's market share rose just under 21% and WindowEyes
> rose 14%? This *does not* pass a sniff test. Market penetration for a
> *new* consumer product is often under 10%. These are products that have
> been around a long time, their market share has shown a downward trend in
> previous surveys, and there have been no "disruptive" new features added to
> either product in the last 18
> months, either. Jared posted his thoughts on the WebAIM blog:
> http://webaim.org/blog/resugence-of-zoomtext-and-window-eyes/
>
> I'm not inclined to draw any hasty conclusions as to what caused these
> results other than to say that I highly doubt there's a correspondingly
> high rate of growth for both of these products. These numbers would suggest
> that the market itself has expanded. Put another way, even if we consider
> the downward trend of JAWS in prior years, I don't think that would account
> for the growth numbers of these products (when prior years indicated that
> the erosion was going to NVDA and VoiceOver).
>
> This has a much more negative effect than many people realized. I point
> customers to this information. I can't, in good conscience, do that
> anymore. I can't tell customers "You should support the broadest number of
> PWDs by at least a) following standards and b) supporting this set of
> assistive technologies" Because now this list includes an illegitimately
> inflated count of two products.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Karl Groves
> www.karlgroves.com
> @karlgroves
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
> Phone: +1 410.541.6829
>
> Modern Web Toolsets and Accessibility
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uq6Db47-Ks
>
> www.tenon.io
> > > at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > >



--
Lucia Greco
Web Accessibility Evangelist
IST - Architecture, Platforms, and Integration
University of California, Berkeley
(510) 289-6008 skype: lucia1-greco
http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
Follow me on twitter @accessaces