Medical volunteer Anthony Loeff is writing about software applications for visually impaired

The primary audience for such applications is those who have difficulty reading because of learning disabilities or language barriers. Further functionality remains limited compared to equivalent desktop applications, the major benefit is to increase the accessibility of said websites. Access technology such as screen readers and Screen magnifiers enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications. While Apple Mac OS X includes VoiceOver, a more feature-rich screen reader. Comming year medical volunteer Anthony Loeff is reporting software for visually impaired people Screen reader choice is contentious: differing priorities and strong preferences are common.

Approximately 3 percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen. This interpretation is then represented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille output. Most legally blind people 63 percent do not use computers.

The Macintosh OS also comes with a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Web browsers, word processors, icons and windows and email programs are just some of the applications used successfully by screen reader users. More and more, screen readers are being bundled with operating system distributions. The open source GNOME desktop environment long included Gnopernicus and now includes Orca. Screen readers can be assumed to be able to access all display content that is not intrinsically inaccessible.

The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers. There are also open source screen readers, such as the Linux Screen Reader for GNOME and NonVisual Desktop Access for Windows.

A persons choice of screen reader is dictated by many factors, including platform and the role of organizations like charities, schools, and employers.

Screen readers are a form of assistive technology potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT such as screen magnifiers. Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access.

The console-based Oralux Linux distribution ships with three screen-reading environments: Emacspeak, Yasr and Speakup. The latter developed in part by Knopper who has a visual impairment. Linux distributions for the blind include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix. Nevertheless, using a screen reader is, according to some users, considerably more difficult than using a GUI and many applications have specific problems resulting from the nature of the application. Recent versions of Microsoft Windows come with the rather basic Narrator. Experimental approaches in sensory substitution are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera.

Later versions of Microsoft Windows include an Accessibility Wizard and Magnifier for those with partial vision, and Microsoft Narrator, a simple screen reader.

Microsoft Dynamics GP - Remote Support

Microsoft Business Solutions Dynamics GP, NAV, AX, CRM, SL are new names for former Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Solomon. In realization of “Project Green” Microsoft will be unifying customization tools and technologies (moving away from proprietary technologies to XML web services and Visual Studio). Microsoft, as well as all the high tech world is moving forward and one of the directions is remote support, when network administrator supports remote offices from one center. Similar conception could be applicable to ERP worldwide support. ERP support has certain nuances and in this small article we’ll discuss ERP remote support on the example of Microsoft Dynamics GP.

• ERP Remote Support Challenge. In the case of ERP support - customer is often expecting extensive onsite evaluation and user training. Well, it is a challenge for remote support people and they should be very skillful in deploying web sessions, VOIP/skype, etc. But the most important - these remote support technicians should be experienced consultants, who knows how to deal with different type of clients. This means that remote support centers should be preferably located in the country where the same systems are implemented for local clients. In the case of Microsoft Dynamics GP these are: Philippines, Latin America, Brazil.

• From Microsoft Dexterity to XML Web Services. This move will facilitate remote support over the internet. GP Dexterity is rather so-called fat-client interface customization tool, when web services, which will have connectors to GP objects via eConnect or Integration Object SDK. Web services could be easily supported by Visual Studio C#/VB programmers over the internet.

• Cross-platform integrations. XML web services and eConnect are excellently positioned to provide integration with non-Microsoft ERP: Oracle, PeopleSoft , IBM Lotus Notes/Domino. In addition to eConnect Microsoft has door open for direct MS SQL Server scripts and stored procedures integration (except for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, where MS CRM SDK doesn’t support direct SQL access to MS Dynamics CRM databases).

• Cost Reduction. If you are looking into local Microsoft Dynamics GP consulting hourly rates in US business metros, such as New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco - $170 per hour is a norm. Remote support has natural cost reduction factor: consultants could serve several clients per day, because they do not have to waste time while traveling onsite.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico

Story Development Software: Good or Evil?

In the early days of the personal computer, we’re talking the mid-’80s here, there was speculation that someday books would all be writen by computers. It sounded a little too science-fictiony for most writers. After all, words on a page—no matter how well they appear to work together—are meaningless without the insights and experiences of the writer behind them.

At this point in time, I’m happy to report, computers are not writing all our books for us.

However, writing software has progressed far beyond the basic word processing abilities of Word and Word Perfect.

Today, we have a wide variety of story development software. Most can be used to write novels or screenplays, even television scripts or stage plays. Programs such as Truby’s Blockbuster or Dramatica Pro teach their own unique approach to story development. Other programs, such as Power Structure, StoryBase, and StoryWeaver provide prompts for help with character, structure, and theme.

They do not write the story for us.

But they are coming closer.

Dramatica Pro, for instance, uses what it refers to as a story engine, that reveals relationships of deep structure independent of subject and content. It takes you by the hand and shows you what character, plot and theme issues you need to address. And finally, it weaves all your plot points together for maximum Dramatica Pro impact.

Truby’s Blockbuster helps you find the best story form for your genre work, helps you develop the 7 keys that provide the nucleus for your story, and then lays out the 22 steps of story development to carry your plot from start to finish.

I’ve used most of these programs at one time or another. While I believe Dramatica Pro has great potential and a unique take on story development, it also has a steep learning curve. Personally, I turn to writing software to save time. If it drains my time to learn how to use it properly, then it defeats its purpose.

Truby’s Blockbuster, on the other hand, quickly gets me to the heart of my story and has me putting the pieces together in a relatively short time. I don’t use it for all my projects, but find it most helpful for the bigger books.

Could I write without the use of software?

Of course.

Would my stories be better for it?

Probably no better. Probably no worse.

Then what’s the point?

The point is this: story development software can serve both good and evil, depending on how you use it. If you rely too heavily on the software, then you defeat the purpose of being a writer, which is to bring your own take on the world into your work. Your stories will likely begin to all read alike, very cookie-cutter and pre-fabbed. You’ll be moving us another step closer to the day when computers will write our books for us.

But if you use the software to organize your thoughts, to make the initial brainstorming process quicker and more efficient, without relying too heavily on each and every aspect of the software, then it can serve the good in your work.

Much like the rules of grammar, the rules of struture and story development are there to guide you. Once you thoroughly understand how they work, you’re freer to break them. This is when you step forward as a writer, with your own voice, and your own creative approach to writing.

If you’d like to check out some of these programs, here are some good places to get started:

Novel-Writing Programs: http://thesuccessfulwriter.com/novelwritingsoftware/

Screenwriting Programs: http://thesuccessfulwriter.com/screenwritingsoftware/

Whether you decide to use story-development software or not—Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Faulkner and many others did just fine without them—always remember to bring yourself to your work.

That’s the only true way you’ll ever be an original writer.

David B. Silva
The Successful Writer
http://thesuccessfulwriter.com

Outsourcing - Another Variation

In this article we’re going to go over another form of outsourcing that is just as common a practice as sending jobs overseas.

It’s the hiring of contract workers.

This practice actually started many years ago back in the 70’s by large companies such as AT&T.

As a regular employee of a company you are entitled to and probably receive the following: health benefits, vacation time, sick time, pension plans, 401 K and a number of other perks. These perks cost the company money, lots of money. If a company is marginally profitable these perks greatly cut into their profit margin.

In order to increase profitability and reduce expenses companies hire what they call contractors or outside consultants. Why? Well, for starters, they don’t have to pay them as much, though in actuality they pay them more money to make the position more attractive. So the question is, how can these companies actually pay more money and still make this profitable?

The answer is because outsourced contractors are NOT employees of the company. That means they work for the contracting company whether it be Source EDP or one of the other big contractors in the United States. These employees are employees of the contracting company. The contracting company pays their salary, benefits, etc. The company using the outsourcing simply pays this company a fee, granted a hefty one, for the employee. BUT here is what they DON’T have to pay. Health benefits, vacation time, 401 K, pension and all the other goodies that go with a company when you’re an actual employee of the company. This saves the company a ton of money on each contractor. Multiply this out by 100,000 of these and you’re talking about saving millions of dollars.

Here is actually a real life example that was given to me from an associate of mine from a contracting situation from years ago during the AT&T divestiture.

Back in the early 80’s AT&T Information Systems had a building in Northern NJ with 10,000 employees. They needed an additional 2,000 to complete a project. Instead of hiring them outright they outsourced them.

Now, the positions paid $7 an hour to an actual employee. The outsourced pay was $18. so the additional cost for the 2,000 employees for the 1 year project was $45, 760,000. One would think this is total insanity. However, the amount of money they saved per person for health benefits, 401 K, pension and all the other things they had to pay into came to $54,912,000. A savings of almost $10,000,000 because they used outsourced employees rather than hire actual workers for the company. After the project was completed they hung onto the contractors and laid off over 2,000 of their regular employees, which was the first time in the history of AT&T that they had to do this.

As you can see, outsourcing saved the company millions of dollars. It also cost 2,000 people their jobs. 2,000 jobs weren’t created because they were using contractors instead. Remember, these contractors were already working for a company, a contracting company. So 2,000 people were now out on the street. Most of them went into, you guessed it, contracting.

It’s one of the biggest industries in the United States today.

Any wonder why?

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Outsourcing
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