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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext'><a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/">http://athenpro.blogspot.com/</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Previous Posts on this Topic:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/02/mac-attack-or_13.html">Mac Attack
... or...</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/02/mac-attack-part-ii.html">Mac Attack
... part ii</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=2 color=black face=Symbol><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/02/mac-attack-update.html">Mac Attack
... update</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>With the rising
popularity of the <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipod/">iPod</a>, <a
href="http://www.bu.edu/disability/">my office</a> is witnessing an increase in
the number of students coming to campus with Apple computers. A few weeks ago I
had a conversation with IT about Mac access and this led to a meet and greet
with the campus Apple Rep. That conversation is <a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/02/mac-attack-part-ii.html">detailed in
a previous blog post</a>. He promised to get me a loaner laptop and it arrived
a couple of days ago. I should disclose that the first personal computerI ever
owned was a <a href="http://www.lowendmac.com/quadra/q630.shtml">Mac Performa
636</a> running <a href="http://www.ilenesmachine.com/articles/gofishpart1.html">OS
7.x</a> and I was a Mac owner up until OS 8.5. Until landing at <a
href="http://www.bu.edu/">Boston University</a> I had been a dual user in
previous jobs and had a preference for the Mac. Two things have changed my
point on view on this matter - the first being my ever evolving <a
href="http://bloggertation.blogspot.com/2005/05/microsoft-and-accessibility.html">access
technology interests</a>, experiences and responsibilities and the second being
the upgrade to <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx">Windows
XP</a>. For the time being anyway I am a PC user with a preference for XP. This
could change, however, as the <a
href="http://www.tuaw.com/2005/11/09/apple-gearing-up-for-os-war/">OS wars</a>
continue to rage.<br>
<br>
The laptop on loan is a 2005 15" <a href="http://www.apple.com/powerbook/">PowerBook
G4</a> with 1GB of RAM running OS X 10.4 Tiger. Clearing the cobwebs from my
memory I spent the first day reacquainting myself with this lovely metallic
beauty. Two things struck me immediately - (1) is the wide screen monitor and
(2) is the almost overwhelming amount of visual feedback presented by the
system.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wide Screen monitors are becoming more common and may
eventually supplant standard sized monitors on laptops [<a
href="http://www.businessweek.com/search/podcasting.htm">Business Week</a> has
a good <a
href="http://www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/qt/podcasts/techmaven/techandu_10_4_05.mp3">podcast
on this topic</a>]. A problem for low vision users is that some magnification
programs for the PC may balk at magnifying the entire screen. I'll likely
discuss this in more detail later - for now I am focusing my comments on
E-Text. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I equate Macs with <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_candy">Eye-Candy</a>. This is not
necessarily a bad thing and I understand why students enjoy the bouncing icons,
genie-in-a-bottle effects, detailed icons, display options, etc. to the
comparitively undynamic Windows desktop. Apples may be not so good for the
visually impaired and perhaps a bit distracting for the ADD crowd, but were I a
fair number of years younger I would probably want one for myself.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Other differences, with which I will become more
comfortable as I use the laptop, include the manner of installing software, how
files are managed, task bar, wireless access, etc. Within minutes of starting
it up for the first time I was able to locate or install many of the standard
programs I prefer [Word, FireFox, Windows Media Player] and install <a
href="http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/vpn/">BU VPN</a>. In playing around with the
programs [<em><i><font face="Times New Roman">hey - it's my job</font></i></em>]
I quickly realized that non-native programs do not behave the same or work as
well as native ones. For example, Windows Media Player has the ability to <a
href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/howto/PlayFaster_how_to.aspx">adjust
the speed</a> on MP3 tracks - but not on the Mac version. I do not find iTunes
to be nearly as user friendly or flexible as WMP for a variety of reasons I
will discuss in greater detail on a later post. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Overall, most of the differences between Mac and Win
are negligible and a matter of taste. They can be overcome easily enough using <a
href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx">Virtual
PC</a> - but I do not know how this will impact access technology. That's
something else to investigate. One item I will mention - and which took me by
surprise - is the inability of the Mac to run <a
href="http://bloggertation.blogspot.com/2006/02/practice-safe-portable-app-ing.html">portable
applications</a> off a flash drive. I tried out both my RSS reader and
OpenOffice and the Mac would not recognize or allow either to run. I have
gotten both of these programs to work on a variety of Windows machines (2000,
ME, XP) and on a workstation running <a href="http://linux.bu.edu/">BU Linux</a>
- but not the Mac. I will try again after [if] I get Virtual PC up and running.
I was able to download <a href="http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/">OpenOffice</a>
and get it to run but it is apparent that the Mac simply does not like it -
kind of like the geeky kid trying to hang with the cool crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/voiceover/">VoiceOver</a> has
initially turned out to be a bit of a disappointment - I do need to work with it
some more. But what I thought was going to be a text to speech offering is
actually a self-voicing navigation device for the system and not TTS. <a
href="http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp">AccessWorld</a> has a good <a
href="http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060505">review of VoiceOver</a>
as does Ermin Nacor, a colleague at the <a
href="http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~adaptive/">SFSU Adaptive Technology Program</a>
as part of <a href="http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~adaptive/osx-review.html">a review
of OS X</a>. I did try out the 'start speaking' option in TextEdit and found
that nothing has chaged since the last time I used a Mac. At least the 'speech'
in Word for Mac works to a minimal degree. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>This weekend I will tackle my main goal - getting <a
href="http://www.kafkasdaytime.com/index.html">KatiePlayer</a> installed and
running along with the <a href="http://www.rfbd.org/katieplayer.htm">RFB&D
upgrade</a>. Following this will be some trials with <a
href="http://www.specialink.com/mac.htm">Mac Access freeware/shareware</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<br>
--<br>
</span></font><font size=2 color=gray><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:gray'>Posted
by D. Berkowitz to <a
href="http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/03/apple-dabble-getting-to-know-you.html">Access
Technologist Higher Education Network</a> at 3/03/2006 03:55:00 AM</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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