Vista accessibility
Teenage gaming heroes apart, few of us are perfect when it comes to dexterity, sight and hearing.
In 2003, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Research to ‘measure the market’ for accessibility technology and present findings about computer users who could benefit from it.
The results were surprising. One quarter had a visual impairment, nearly the same percentage had dexterity difficulties, and one fifth had hearing problems.
All in all, Forrester found that nearly two thirds of the survey sample would be likely to benefit from accessibility technology in one way or another. The real eye-opener was that the survey sample consisted entirely of 18- to 64-year-olds. You don’t need to be a market analyst to realise that accessibility is even more important for young children and the elderly.
Windows has had accessibility features since version 95, and even before that there was a separate ‘Access pack’ available for Windows 3, so many of the utilities and features we’ll be looking at here are not new.
However, Vista sees several improvements – particularly in the way accessibility functions are organised – and one new killer feature.
Read the complete article at Vista accessibility – 19 Feb 2008 – IT Week