[Athen] accessibility VDI

Rachel Ford rford at schoolcraft.edu
Wed Oct 5 13:21:30 PDT 2016


Joseph,

I am also very interested in your VDI results. My campus is currently in the process of implementing VDI using VMWare, and I've had concerns regarding this process (beyond accessibility).

Rachel Ford
Learning Options Associate
Schoolcraft College
Livonia, MI
734-462-4481


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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2016 17:09:32 +0000
From: Leyna Bencomo <lbencomo at uccs.edu>
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
<athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] accessibility VDI
Message-ID: <74af174d9bd0469e80f66b5372c4b1b8 at UCCS-EX1.uccs.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Joseph,

Please share your results as you get them. From what I have heard a few years back, the idea of using a VD system with accessible software was fraught with peril. I wasn't privy to all the details but it would be great to hear if there are any complications these days. It seems to me there would be the problem of getting access to the accessible software, if that makes any sense. You still need to be able to sign in, log on and start the virtual desktop before getting to the AT. I've also seen some AT software loaded onto a network with zero clients. That was not functional either. We had to put one "fat" client station in each lab for students who needed AT. I wasn't involved in the trouble shooting but I know the decision was made to drop it.

Leyna Bencomo
Assistive Technology Specialist
Information Technology
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, EPC 215
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 255-4202 / lbencomo at uccs.edu<mailto:lbencomo at uccs.edu>
http://www.uccs.edu/~it/
[uccs-signature-email]


From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Joseph Sherman
Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2016 10:52 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] accessibility VDI

Sorry about that. VDI is Virtual Desktop Interface. The idea is that users can log into the Virtual Desktop from anywhere at any time and have access to software, instead of installing the software on every computer on campus or at home. We are currently using it for programs like SPSS, Maple, and GIS. We are looking into putting accessibility software into the Virtual Desktop to allow users to access the accessibility tools from any computer without having to individually install and maintain it.

Joseph




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