[Athen] Slightly OT: A concern for the future of Windows-based AT

Robert Spangler rspangler1 at udayton.edu
Tue Jul 24 07:53:01 PDT 2018


It's a shared responsibility but unfortunately the weight of it is going to
fall more on AT developers, as typical app developers cannot always be
depended on to abide by accessibility standards. AT may have it handled
but they will always have to play catch-up especially nowadays with how
often things are changing.

I just told someone recently that it would be great if we could expect that
all developers of apps would utilize the tools provided them to ensure that
their apps are accessible. For instance, Google takes this approach - they
provide the tools and APIs necessary for developers to make their apps
accessible; however, many developers complain that they do not have the
time or resources. Therefore, I would argue that it's the responsibility
of the tech giants, such as Google, to recognize the importance of
accessibility of their services and to become leaders in this endeavor. It
is my opinion that Apple has done better at this, making a firm commitment
company-wide to accessibility and not leaving it up to individual teams and
units across the company to implement accessibility however they see fit.

Thanks,
Robert


On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 1:52 AM, Dan Comden <danc at uw.edu> wrote:


> Hi Deborah,

> Thanks for linking the article. The following is not directed at you. And

> your article is not Off Topic at all.

>

> How about a different position -- AT has things handled. For the most

> part, screenreaders, TTS, STS, magnifiers -- they all understand basic

> underlying html.

>

> So who is getting it wrong? The companies putting out shoddy interfaces

> and non-standard apps? Or the browsers? Assistive tech for the most part

> has it handled.

>

> Discuss.

>

> -*- Dan

>

> On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 1:46 PM, Deborah Armstrong <

> armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu> wrote:

>

>> Bloomberg has an interesting story about Amy Hood, Microsoft’s CFO.

>>

>>

>>

>> One business trend for this past decade is that a CFO is no longer a

>> glorified accountant/budget analyst. They are now part of the senior

>> management team – determiners of strategy rather than implementers.

>> Microsoft’ Q4 earnings report came out Thursday and according to Bloomberg,

>> investors are saying Ms. Hood is the best CFO Microsoft has ever had.

>>

>>

>>

>> One thing she’s done is take money away from legacy divisions and put it

>> in to the cloud. Since 2002 when she was hired her goal is to move

>> Microsoft more towards cloud-based subscription models for their products –

>> I’m paraphrasing Bloomberg here—previously most divisions could ask for

>> what they wanted budget-wise and could expect to get it – that’s no longer

>> true. Bloomberg also comments that Ms. Hood timed her start date back in

>> 2002 to get maximum access to the employee stock purchase plan.

>>

>>

>>

>> So despite what we see at conferences with Microsoft’s waving of the

>> accessibility banner, I don’t think it’s going to be smooth sailing ahead.

>> If it doesn’t improve growth it’s going to be ignored.

>>

>>

>>

>> The earnings reports no longer say anything about Windows, so we can

>> assume it is gradually going to just be a framework for a browser; already

>> most new apps are PWAS (progressive web apps) which means no installation,

>> no data on your own PC, but you need to be online to access any of it.

>>

>>

>>

>> This means that AT is going to need to get much better at dealing with

>> progressive web apps and other online offerings. For keyboard users, there

>> is no longer a consistent, reliable set of keystrokes for operating

>> web-based applications. For screen reader users, just to take one example,

>> pressing Tab can take you out of the application and in to the address bar

>> which is very confusing; imagine if a single and frequently used keystroke

>> could dump you out of the operating system! For magnification users, the

>> lack of standards in a web-based interface means that you can miss

>> important information because you weren’t looking in the right place.

>>

>>

>>

>> The full Bloomberg story is here:

>>

>> https://www.bloomberg.com/news

>> /articles/2018-07-16/how-amy-hood-won-back-wall-street-and-

>> helped-reboot-microsoft

>>

>>

>>

>> --Debee

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

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>>

>>

>

>

> --

> -*- Dan Comden danc at uw.edu <danc at washington.edu>

> Access Technology Center www.uw.edu/itconnect/accessibility/atl/

> University of Washington UW Information Technology

>

>

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>

>



--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton | 300 College Park | Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning
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