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Thread: Pricing of Screen Readers

Number of posts in this thread: 12 (In chronological order)

From: Chris Heilmann
Date: Thu, Oct 21 2004 3:41AM
Subject: Pricing of Screen Readers
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I just got promoted to head of Front End Development and finally got a
budget to play with for buying software needed. I wanted to liase with our
Testing department and buy some screen readers and got a mild shock
looking at the prices of Jaws. Is it just me or is that making money by
having a clientele that has no choice? Is there a cheaper way to get Jaws
(no, not the demo, I know that)?

--
Chris Heilmann
http://icant.co.uk/ | http://www.onlinetools.org/

From: Iain Harrison
Date: Thu, Oct 21 2004 7:24AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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Thursday, October 21, 2004, 10:30:11 AM, lists38 wrote:

> Is it just me or is that making money by
> having a clientele that has no choice?

I expect that they'd say there is a limited market for the software,
but I share your suspicions. Even if I had the budget, I'd not buy
it on principle. Even the demo costs money.

--

Iain

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Thu, Oct 21 2004 9:43AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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> Is it just me or is that
> making money by having a clientele that has no choice? Is there a
> cheaper way to get Jaws (no, not the demo, I know that)?

No. They seem pretty arrogant as a company. But, really, no more arrogant
that a lot of software vendors that have a mini-monopoly. They're ripe for a
competitor to come in and undercut their pricing completely. Where are
things at in the Screen Reader market? Is IBM's product much of a
competitor?

-Darrel

From: Sachin Dev Pavithran
Date: Thu, Oct 21 2004 10:32AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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"I wanted to lease with our Testing department and buy some screen readers
and got a mild shock
looking at the prices of Jaws. Is it just me or is that making money by
having a clientele that has no choice?"

Chris:

Welcome to the world of assistive technology users. It is amazing how much
A.T. users spend in getting technologies just to function in a work or
school environment. As we all no almost all software have educational
discount, but when it comes to A.T. software that is not even an option. I
am sure their reason is that there is not enough users out there to use
their products. But with prices like this no average person can afford
assistive technology with out getting a grant or some sort of funding. If
you ask me it is just high way robbery. Like you said " it is making money
by having a clientele that has no choice"

For example : I bought a Braille note about 2 years ago, which cost $ 5300.
I have been having problems with it for a long time. Now they say it is the
chip set and they have introduced a new chip set and it will cost me $ 1200
to change my existing chip set. That is $ 6500 for a device which does not
have even quarter the power in functionality of a laptop.

It is definitely frustrating and we, A.T. users just don't have a choice but
spend the money in order to be able to compete with our peers.

Regards.
Sachin

**************************************************************

"You must become the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

Sachin Dev Pavithran
Training and Development Specialist
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University
6800 Old Main Hill, Logan, Ut - 84322, U.S.A.

Work Phone : 1-(435)-797 0974
Email : = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Visit Us at http://www.cpd.usu.edu

******************************************************

From: Michael R. Burks
Date: Thu, Oct 21 2004 10:48AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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What about GW Micro's Window Eyes?

Sincerely,

Mike Burks

-----Original Message-----
From: sachin [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 12:29 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Pricing of Screen Readers

"I wanted to lease with our Testing department and buy some screen readers
and got a mild shock
looking at the prices of Jaws. Is it just me or is that making money by
having a clientele that has no choice?"

Chris:

Welcome to the world of assistive technology users. It is amazing how much
A.T. users spend in getting technologies just to function in a work or
school environment. As we all no almost all software have educational
discount, but when it comes to A.T. software that is not even an option. I
am sure their reason is that there is not enough users out there to use
their products. But with prices like this no average person can afford
assistive technology with out getting a grant or some sort of funding. If
you ask me it is just high way robbery. Like you said " it is making money
by having a clientele that has no choice"

For example : I bought a Braille note about 2 years ago, which cost $ 5300.
I have been having problems with it for a long time. Now they say it is the
chip set and they have introduced a new chip set and it will cost me $ 1200
to change my existing chip set. That is $ 6500 for a device which does not
have even quarter the power in functionality of a laptop.

It is definitely frustrating and we, A.T. users just don't have a choice but
spend the money in order to be able to compete with our peers.

Regards.
Sachin

**************************************************************

"You must become the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

Sachin Dev Pavithran
Training and Development Specialist
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University
6800 Old Main Hill, Logan, Ut - 84322, U.S.A.

Work Phone : 1-(435)-797 0974
Email : = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Visit Us at http://www.cpd.usu.edu

******************************************************

----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/

From: Athol Gow
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 6:38AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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>"They're ripe for a competitor to come in and undercut their pricing completely. Where are
>things at in the Screen Reader market?"
>
The next release of Apple's operating system (OS 10.4 Tiger) will
include VoiceOver, a full-featured screen reader. The really good news
is that VoiceOver will be free (i.e., since it's integrated into the OS,
it will be standard on new Macs; otherwise, it will be available for
purchase as part of an OS upgrade).
For more information, see
http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/tiger/voiceover.html
Cheers,
Athol

From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 7:44AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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> From: agow
> The really
> good news
> is that VoiceOver will be free (i.e., since it's integrated
> into the OS,
> it will be standard on new Macs

OT, but: just imagine if MS dared integrate anything into its
OS like this...the outrage! The shouts of anti-competitivenes...

Patrick
________________________________
Patrick H. Lauke
Webmaster / University of Salford
http://www.salford.ac.uk

From: Chris Heilmann
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 7:49AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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>> From: agow
>> The really
>> good news
>> is that VoiceOver will be free (i.e., since it's integrated
>> into the OS,
>> it will be standard on new Macs
>
> OT, but: just imagine if MS dared integrate anything into its
> OS like this...the outrage! The shouts of anti-competitivenes...

From muppets, yes. Let's not forget that there is "narrator" in windows
xp. IMHO it is not a bad idea, after all that would negate the need for a
bespoke and expensive screen reader.

--
Chris Heilmann
http://icant.co.uk/ | http://www.onlinetools.org/

From: Chris Heilmann
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 7:49AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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From: Athol Gow
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 8:36AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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<blockquote type="cite"
cite=" = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ">

From: agow
The really
good news
is that VoiceOver will be free (i.e., since it's integrated
into the OS,
it will be standard on new Macs

OT, but: just imagine if MS dared integrate anything into its
OS like this...the outrage! The shouts of anti-competitivenes...

I take your point, but you have to look at the context - the one 3rd-party developer who made a screen reader for the Mac had no plans to re-design it for OS X, and no other companies were stepping in to fill the void.

From: Jim Thatcher
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 8:50AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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Chris Heilmann:
> IMHO it is not a bad idea, after all that would negate the need for a
> bespoke and expensive screen reader.

It is a terrible idea. No major IT company is going to have the resources or
put in the effort that is required for a high quality screen reader. The
extremely limited market and the immense technical effort required of screen
reader development justify the prices y'all so vociferously complain about
on this list.

It is great that Apple is producing a screen reader - but there's a reason -
there is no (current) screen reader for the Mac and that limits their sales
to US federal agencies. Why no screen reader? Because it is not economically
feasible. Can you imagine how much Apple would have to charge for a screen
reader if it were priced as they would normally price products. That would
really give one something to complain about.

Three cheers for the screen reader developers. They are a tough crew
confronting an incredibly difficult job.

Jim

Accessibility Consulting: http://jimthatcher.com/
512-306-0931

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Fri, Oct 22 2004 9:18AM
Subject: Re: Pricing of Screen Readers
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> OT, but: just imagine if MS dared integrate anything into its
> OS like this...the outrage! The shouts of anti-competitivenes...

Uhh...MS *does* do that.

And, AKAIK, there really isn't an easy OSX solution out there right now.

And, ultimately, shouldn't this BE the one thing that any OS developer
include? The OS, itself, should be accessible to anyone without the need of
3rd party software. I find it somewhat unfair that those with accessibility
needs are the ones that have to pay more to use the same OS as everyone
else. (sometimes having to pay more than the actual cost of the original
machine). But, then again, I'm a pinko socialist at heart. ;o)

> Can you imagine how much Apple would have to charge for a screen
> reader if it were priced as they would normally price products. That would
> really give one something to complain about.

These days, their software and hardware are very competitive in price. I
doubt there'd be much complaining about the price at all if they did release
it as a product.

-Darrel