Greetings:
I bring this to your attention for whatever action you think it deserves.
I am working on a letter to CompuServe, and this announcement, combined
with what happened at the Computer Science meeting, are, to say the least,
interesting.
Regards,
Curtis Chong
chong99@cris.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 15 Jul 96 10:15:45 EDT
From: Dan Clark <103115.346@CompuServe.COM>
To: Chris Teodoridis <on-tac-hamilton@immedia.ca>,
Curtis Chong <curtisc@winternet.com>,
Cynthia Ice <cynthia_ice@ccmg.lotus.com>,
Dan Brown <rdbrown@netcom.com>, Daniela Fugate <aph@iglou.com>,
Darren Luvaas <darren@midtown.net>,
David Andrews <dandrews@winternet.com>,
David Basl <74407.3455@CompuServe.COM>,
David Bolter <david.bolter@utoronto.ca>
Subject: CompuServe & JFW
Hello, everyone. It has been a busy month at H-J! Here is some email you
might find interesting. It contains several parts which I've combined, to
try to keep the length down and also to keep from putting too many messages
in your mail box (g). Dan.
The first part is a press release describing a joint effort by Henter-Joyce,
Inc. and CompuServe.
The second part is a set of questions about the press release, with some
responses to those questions by Eric Damery, VP of sales at H-J.
Part One.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Carrie Reber or Jeff Shafer
CompuServe Incorporated
614/538-4092 or 614/538-4632
Eric S. Damery
Henter-Joyce
813/528-8900
COMPUSERVE AND HENTER-JOYCE UPDATE ONLINE ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 11, 1996 -- CompuServe Incorporated (NASDAQ: CSRV) and
Henter-Joyce, Inc., of St. Petersburg, Florida, have agreed to work
together on a solution that updates accessibility to the CompuServe (tm)
Information Service and the Internet by visually impaired members.
"As information technology continues to move forward, adaptive equipment
and technology must change to keep pace," said Kent Stuckey, CompuServe
director, Business Development. With CompuServe moving to a non-ASCII,
more graphics-rich environment and adopting Internet standards, the company
chose to work with Henter-Joyce to ensure that members who are blind or
visually impaired can use the same computer and interface software enjoyed
by sighted household members, and thereby continue to benefit from the
online experience.
"Henter-Joyce welcomes the opportunity to join CompuServe in providing
today's technology to all visually impaired individuals wishing to
participate in the online world. With the combination of our two
companies' products, they can do so using their own or their family's home
computer," said Eric Damery, vice president of sales for Henter-Joyce.
During the third quarter of this year (July - Sept.), the two
organizations will offer a package that includes Henter-Joyce's JAWS for
Windows screen reader, CompuServe's interface software for the Windows
operating system and a set of training audio tapes to help instruct the
visually impaired user on the use of CompuServe as well as the screen
reader. To order the package, call 800-336-5658 or send electronic mail
inquiries to info@hj.com. Henter-Joyce maintains a Forum (tm) area on the
CompuServe Information Service at GO JAWS.
"Cyberspace is a world where people interact with one another beyond their
physical limitations," Stuckey added. "The online world comes to them,
wherever they are, whenever they want it, without regard to physical
barriers. Cyberspace allows them to do research, work, learn, share their
experiences and socialize with people around the world."
In addition to thousands of online news, information, communication and
entertainment areas, CompuServe offers Forum areas of particular benefit to
people with disabilities, including the Disability Forum (GO DISABILITIES),
the Handicapped Users Database (GO HANDICAPPED) and technical support Forum
areas for providers of software tools and other adaptive equipment.
"While the Windows operating system can present technical challenges for
users with disabilities and for accessibility software developers, it has
proven to be where the computer world of today and tomorrow is going, and
Henter-Joyce intends to be there every step of the way," Damery added.
Founded in 1987, Henter-Joyce develops software that enables people with
visual impairments to make computers talk.
Founded in 1969, CompuServe Incorporated provides the world's most
comprehensive online services, business network and Internet access.
Through CompuServe, more than five million home and business users in more
than 185 countries access the Internet and 3,000-plus online information,
education and entertainment services and products. In addition, 982
corporate customers use CompuServe's value-added network solutions. Among
its many uses, the CompuServe-owned network serves as the world's mailbox
and check-out lane, hosting millions of e-mail messages per month and more
than one billion point-of-sale transactions per year. With world
headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, CompuServe's offices include European
centers in Munich, London and Paris. ** end of part one **
Part Two. Some questions and answers.
Questions from one person who read the announcement: What about WOW! and
Worlds Away? What does the "package" from H-J consist of in total? How
much? Is its usefulness limited? Does this "partnership" between CIS and
H-J mean that, at some future date, only those blind persons using JFW will
have "full" access to Compuserve? If not, what steps are the people at H-J
taking to ensure that this is not the case?
Answers from Eric Damery:
We have signed a letter of intent with CompuServe. We will be doing a
formal contract in the coming weeks but have already started to increase
macros for WinCIM 2.01. I also looked at the coming 3.0 release in 95 and
am quite sure we can handle this as well in a timely manner. I asked about
WOW as we were talking with CompuServe and this is apparently another
division and the people we are working with had little control over WOW.
There have been problems reported on it without speech and I have not seen
it at all yet so can't comment.
Part of the contract we intend to work out will include (at our cost) two
days of hands on training for compuserve staff (sales and support) in Ohio
by Henter-Joyce. We hope to expose them to some degree, to the difficulties
experienced with WinCIM, and GUI in general, from the keyboard with speech.
While we do not expect this to be an end all solution, it should be a
start. We also intend to develop a solid support forum with participation
by our support, compuserve support and, we hope, other access vendors.
Training tapes will help the use of CompuServe's services. There are
numerous areas to explore and we will follow the same approch as our
current tapes in walking through as much of WinCIM as possible. The first
step is further macro development on our part to handle help messages and
the problem areas such as in coming messages where the PC cursor does not
track. We have modified macros already in the past two weeks which gives
much better access to such mail you receive (see the latest version of JFW,
1.21.23).
We encourage CompuServe and other Access vendors to communicate as well.
The WinCIM product does work fairly well already. Windows standards have
been followed with their product in large part, and the tapes we provide
should be beneficial for users of other screen readers as well. The exact
cost has not been determined yet, however they will be sold by themselves
for a reasonable amount.
The exact JAWS for CompuServe (JFC maybe) we provide has not been finalized
yet either. I expect it will not include a Macro Editor or all the macros
we have developed but it will certainly contain the entire default set
along with customized ones for Windows Help, Program Manager, File Manager,
applications in Accessories Group, Netscape, MS Explorer, and of course
WinCIM. The special files generated for programs like WordPerfect 6.x, MS
Excel and Word along with ACT! for Windows will probably not be included.
We will notify interested users of such policies once they have been
established including how current users will benefit from this project.
In defense of CompuServe, I would like to point out that while the format
of the material they put forth in their service becomes less accessible in
DOS, the material and format are not originated by them. If CompuServe does
not adjust how they present material, their service would leave little to
offer their customer base. Again, I'm not trying to suggest that they
should not be let off the hook, but Henter-Joyce does not view CompuServe
as the enemy. We hope that others do not see Henter-Joyce as such.
Sincerely,
Eric Damery
VP Sales, Henter-Joyce, Inc.
800-336-5658
www.hj.com
** end of document **
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