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Super random poll for everyone today, would there be any interest in an accessible, cross-platform software suite containing things like a calculator, editor, file manager, book reader, reminder app, to-do list, etc? I know that for me a huge draw of note takers and similar is the specialized and incredibly efficient and optimized software that comes with them, and hardly ever the hardware, I don't need Braille sells. I think that if I had had software like this on a Windows computer instead of HumanWare note takers in school I would've been better off, and honestly I can see myself using something like this today. The only thing I knew that was sort of like this was KeySoft for DOS, and all full copies of that are lost to time sadly.

  • Absolutely (75%, 3 votes)
  • Nah, not really (25%, 1 vote)
  • What does any of this mean? (0%, 0 votes)
  • I just want to see the results (0%, 0 votes)
4 voters. Poll end: 11 months ago

in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

miki

@matt I don't think custom solutions are necessarily bad, *as long as they interoperate with the mainstream*.

I feel like the experiment that is screen readers has failed us in many respects. A sighted 5-year-old can pick up a phone, and, with 0 understanding of technology, find their favorite cartoons on the internet, with little to no guidance from their parents, and sometimes explicitly against their wishes. Blind people are nowhere near that, and I don't think our current approach of badly trying to adapt a vision-first interface to an audio-first world is ever going to get us there.
There are good arguments to be made for the current paradigm, being able to use any existing app with 0 extra work is definitely one, but I just don't think we'll ever get to sighted levels of ergonomics, speed and ease of use if we don't make something for ourselves.

The 21st-century world of software security, locked down APIs and proprietary solutions doesn't make doing it well neither easy nor chea, though.

@Matt Campbell
in reply to Matt Campbell

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Quin

@matt So I have incredibly mixed feelings on this, and my argument is that a Windows computer is a much more mainstream tool than a note taker, so the blind kids would already be ahead. I definitely take your point about using mainstream software, though, although I will also point out that there isn't even mainstream software for everything I needed to do in school. We used the GSuite a lot and I used my regular web browser for that, but there were also loads of PDF's and other file formats I would've had no way of reading without QRead, a propriotary blindness-specific tool. It's a tricky line to walk for sure, but personally I'm not against specialized tools if they let me get my work done 10 times faster.
@Matt Campbell
Unknown parent

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Sean Randall

@masonasons BT speak kinda does this I suppose? I've not used one to know how it functions for the advanced user.
I think Orbit Speak uses android as a platform and I know it is both loud (in terms of physical keypresses), and quite sluggish to respond. So is Braillenote, much of the time.
in reply to Sean Randall

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Peter Vágner

@Sean Randall @Mew✨🥰 @Quin I think BT speak does it all on CLI. It would be nice to try packaging it for popular linux distros like debian, arch linux and similar, then ensure it is not isolated and supports standard protocols i.e. IMAP / SMTP for email, caldav for calendar, carddav for contacts, even webdav for files and make it sync with nextcloud or different backend of everyones choice. Then consider XMPP or matrix for instant messaging, radio-browser for radio stations, UPnP / DLNA for discovering local music / movie / multimedia libraries and multiroom audio This would be a productivity booster since you can use this suite of apps to do it when in front a computer, but you could also integrate a different apps when using different platforms.
I know my dreams are somewhat unrealistic, however what I would like to say from the start integrations and avoid vendor locks are the key points.
@Quin @Sean Randall
in reply to Peter Vágner

mastodon - Link to source

Sean Randall

@pvagner @masonasons This is my real bugbear with much of the blindy equipment. It's all locked-in.
My Braille display has wifi, yet I can't put files on it wirelessly.
It supports online services, but only if you're a lucky american. Things like RSS really lend themselves to reading in Braille, caldav is lightweight, but there's just no thought into the conveniences.
@Peter Vágner
in reply to miki

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Peter Vágner

@Mikołaj Hołysz @Sean Randall @Mew✨🥰 @Quin Then during second or third or whatever stage expand it to privacy respecting blindness specific online services. Similar what some nation specific agencies for the blind are doing e.g. in czech republic there are email lists, web servers, access to ordinari news papers and magazines, TV programme and other goodies operated like this.
I'd prefer federation over google or any other brand specific support. Google, Microsoft, apple, soho, whatever other popular service lets you import from caldav / carddav, colaborating is a different story though.
@miki @Quin @Sean Randall
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