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RE: Are all screen readers PC

for

From: Terence de Giere
Date: Mar 12, 2004 8:26AM

One reason you see much less assistive technology for the Macintosh
computer is, from its outset, unlike its predecessor the Apple, the Mac
was a visual and mouse driven machine. Unplug the mouse and it was
useless. The PC was keyboard driven from the outset even and maintained
that even after the addition of the Windows interface. Gradually over
the years the difference has reduced. With a UNIX based OS, the Mac is
now in a better position, but also its market share is now much smaller
than it was, which probably means fewer developers are willing to spend
the resources to create assistive technology for it. The PC, and Windows
in particular, has had a vast lead in this area. In a way it is a shame
because the Mac was in many respects engineered far better from a human
usability point of view. Physically the PC was a more generic product
and ultimately that flexibility of construction became one of its
strengths as far as adapting to many different needs.

Terence de Giere
<EMAIL REMOVED>


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