The conversation solidifies. As reported previously, Window-Eyes, perhaps the third-most popular screen reader in the blindness community, is no more. At the time, Freedom Scientific (now part of the VFO group) published their guide to switching to JAWS as part of their offer.
After publishing the article, many reached out regarding NVDA, and some felt that to them, NVDA may be a more natural transition to another screen reader, or at least when compared to JAWS. Window-eyes has a “synth ring,” and some of the mouse commands for clicking may be easier to understand if you use NVDA, as commands do overlap. Best of all, it’s open-source, meaning that the project will be harder to abandon as others from the community would step up in a heartbeat if the developers felt they needed to work on anything else. Bhavya Shah spoke to Mick and Jamie during NVDA Con about the possibility of any further fears relating to this where they assured everyone that the independent spirit of NVDA’s development will always stay alive. By nature, the organization was set up so that its assets (specifically NVDA at least) could not become intellectual property.
In response to the lack of transition guides, The NVDA community has stepped up once again with a guide written by Gene Asner and open to further contribution. Just as other community efforts, there are chances of this page becoming a one-stop-shop for Window-eyes switchers, so keep it bookmarked if it holds importance to you. There should not be any reason for anyone to be only given one choice, and in this decreasing market, we need them more than ever.
