I am sorry to disappoint, but saying there was no Jaws in 1989 would be like saying there was no Microsoft before Windows.
When I immigrated to Canada from Germany in August of 1989 and shortly after started University I bought my first PC with the Microsoft DOS operating system from Kirk Reiser and Fred Stam from Intelligent Access Microware (IAM) based in London, Ontario where I went to the University of Western Ontario and where Kirk also worked for the University in the so-called Computer Braille Facility. That 386 IBM clone came with Jaws version 1.1, it had a 3.5 and 5.25 inch floppy drive and for the time a huge 70 Mb hard drive; many of my fellow students still had 286 PC's with 20 Mb or 40 Mb hard drives and only 5.25 inch floppy drives..
I also had an HP Scanjet scanner and the Arkenstone OCR software, a Versapoint braille printer and a very small and portable notetaker with a braille keyboard and its own screenreader called a "Eureka", it had a contact manager/address book, a word processor, a calendar, a calculator and even a music composer and it also had a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive for transferring stuff to the computer and even a built-in modem because I think it may have had an email program as well.
A friend of mine in Germany was studying computer science at a University in Germany and we started using email in late 1989 as well, the program of choice back then was Eudora and Word Perfect was the most widely used word processor, Quattro was the spreadsheet of choice.
Here is a bit of information about Jaws at the time:
JAWS for Windows was originally called JAWS (Job Access With Speech). JAWS Version 1.0 was released in 1989 by Ted Henter, a former motorcycle racer who
lost his sight in a 1978 car accident.
In 1985, Henter along with Bill Joyce, founded the Henter-Joyce Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida. Joyce sold his interest in the company back to
Ted Henter sometime in 1990.
JAWS was created for computer users who used the DOS (Disk Operated System). A unique feature of the JAWS program, was its use of cascading menus in the
style of the popular Lotus 1-2-3 application.
Unlabeled 1
A significant distinction of JAWS to that of other screen readers of that era, was its use of macros. Macros allowed users to customise the user interface
and so work better with numerous computer applications.
Ted Henter and Rex Skipper wrote the original JAWS code in the mid-1980s, releasing version 2.0 in 1990. When Skipper left the company, Charles Oppermann
was hired to maintain and improve the JAWS program.
Oppermann and Henter continually added minor and major features and frequently released new versions of JAWS. Freedom Scientific now offer JAWS for MS-DOS
as a freeware download from their web site.
In the early 1990s, Microsoft Windows became more popular and Oppermann started to design a new version of JAWS. A principle design goal was to maintain
the natural user interface of Windows and to continue to provide a strong macro facility. It was around this time that JAWS was renamed JAWS for Windows
(JFW) and Beta versions of JAWS for Windows went on show and were demonstrated at many conferences throughout 1993 and 1994.
During this time developer Glen Gordon started working on the JAWS for Windows code, ultimately taking over its development when Oppermann was hired by
Microsoft in November of 1994 and in January 1995, JAWS for Windows 1.0 was released.
In April 2000, Henter-Joyce, Blazie Engineering, and Arkenstone, Inc. all merged together to form Freedom Scientific.
You have been using JAWS since 1989? That would be impossible because JAWS was not introduced until 1995. In fact, I don't think any screen reader existed in 1989, not even Voice Over.
Gerald
On 11/2/2021 12:36 PM, Sieghard Weitzel wrote:
Steve, as a 54-year old very active technology user who has been using Jaws since 1989 I have tried to use NVDA a few times and I just can't do much with it because of the differences. Yes, maybe some keys are similar, but it still is quite different as well. Of course then again I just have not felt motivated to really spend time learning it to the point where I might feel more comfortable with it since I always keep my Jaws up to date.
Hi Billy,
I don’t think it would.
Many of the keystrokes are similar to JAWS.
All the best
Steve
hi ED, at my time of life NVDA would be too much of a learning curve, as well as the health Issues I have,
but thanks you guys, Billy
Sent: Tuesday, November 2, 2021 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: Jaws Screen Reader cost?.
Fi Billy,
The annual subscription mentioned isn’t available tu us in the UK as yet.
However, every summer Sight and Sound reduce the price of JAWS and other FS products in line with sales offered by FS. I can’t remember what the price of a JAWS licence was this year, but it wasn’t over £150 I don’t think.
Hanging on until July/August is likely to be your best bet, though NVDA as has already been suggested is a capable screen reader which may well meet your needs.
Cheers,
Ed
On 2 November 2021 10:06:53 "Billy Inglis" <billyinglis49@...> wrote:
hi guys, I have been Informed purchasing the Jaws Screen Reader from Freedom Scientific these days is way to expensive. So I am asking if there are other ways of purchasing the software for us blindys?, Billy
