Humanware Says Keysoft 7.2 Next Week And Classic Series EOL

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HumanWare will be releasing KeySoft 7.2 on Wednesday 6 September New Zealand time, making your BrailleNote or VoiceNote even more useful and efficient. Whether you have a BrailleNote or VoiceNote mPower, a BrailleNote PK, or a BrailleNote or VoiceNote Classic, there is a version of KeySoft 7.2 that will be available for you.
KeySoft 7.2 takes one count from your Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA). An SMA allows you to receive two major versions of KeySoft for the price of one.

Remember, an SMAcan only be used for a version of KeySoft if it is purchased prior to the release of the software concerned. So if you are currently running KeySoft 7 and not yet an SMA holder, ensure you get the best deal on KeySoft 7.2 by purchasing your SMA now. Those running version 6 or lower will first need to upgrade to KeySoft 7 to be eligible to purchase an SMA.Contact HumanWare or your distributor for KeySoft 7.2 pricing.

What's in KeySoft 7.2?
DAISY Support (available on BrailleNote and VoiceNote mPower, and BrailleNote PK) Your BrailleNote or VoiceNote is about to become your digital book player.

HumanWare is the world leader in DAISY playback technology, through our Victor Reader products. Now, we have incorporated Victor Reader technology right into KeySoft. Listen to DAISY audio books, with the flexibility to speed up and slow down the narration and change the tone of the audio. Set bookmarks, and create text notes. Text only DAISY books are instantly translated into your preferred grade of Braille.

With books that offer both text and audio, you have the best of both worlds. Choose to read in Braille for detailed study, and let the narrator read to you when it suits. Move through DAISY elements, or use the familiar KeySoft sentence and paragraph navigation commands in text DAISY books if you prefer.

Working with Files Is Easier (available on all models) KeySoft allows extensive manipulation of files from any file list.
Anywhere you can see a list of files, you can copy, erase, move, protect, unprotect and rename a file. Now, it is possible to mark files for action. Move through a list of files, mark those files that you need to take action on, and the file manipulation commands can be applied to the group of files.

Now, when you look through a file list using the Directory option in File Manager, pressing ENTER on any file will launch its associated application. Pressing ENTER on an mp3 file for example will immediately cause it to start playing in the Media Player.

In any file list, it is now easier to get it sorted. You can still sort files alphabetically as you have always done, however you can now also sort by date and by size. Sorting by size is a great way of finding those pesky large files that are consuming FLASH Disk space. Sorting by date makes it easier to trace the progress of a project whose files are contained in their own folder.

e-mail Signatures (available on all models) KeySoft 7.2 adds the ability to set up two e-mail signatures. Configure an e-mail signature for messages you generate, and another for messages you forward or reply to. You can see the text of the signature right in the body of any e-mail message you create.

Statistics Support in the Calculator (available on all models) KeySoft 7.2 offers intuitive, powerful statistical functions in KeyPlus.
Create data sets within the Calculator using a special data entry mode.

Enter your
data into a KeyWord document, and paste it into data entry mode from the clipboard. Import data sets from many common applications. Save data sets for later use, and export them for use by other applications. Perform a wide range of statistical functions on a data set using an intuitive KeySoft menu, or with hotkeys.

All this in KeySoft 7.2, available next week.
Jonathan Mosen
BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager
HumanWare

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SUPPORT FOR BRAILLENOTE AND VOICENOTE CLASSIC

In June 2005, HumanWare released the next generation of information management systems for the blind, BrailleNote and VoiceNote mPower. To thank our loyal customer base for their support, we made two commitments.

Firstly, because we appreciate that funding for assistive technology may only be available to an individual once every few years, we undertook to release new versions of Key Soft for the BrailleNote and VoiceNote Classic for as long as possible.

Secondly, we introduced our extremely popular transplant programme, allowing BrailleNote Classic customers the chance to have our latest technology for around a third of the cost of a new unit in the case of those owning 32-cell models.

The transplant programme will continue into the foreseeable future , giving customers access to the many benefits available exclusively on BrailleNote and VoiceNote mPower. However, as we start to plan for exciting future enhancements to KeySoft, it is becoming clear that many of the features we wish to add are not technically possible on the Classic platform. On that basis, HumanWare is giving notice that KeySoft 7.2 will be the second to last upgrade available for the Classic family. There will be a final update for BrailleNote classic released next year. For this reason, once KeySoft 7.2 is released, software maintenance agreements will no longer be available for the BrailleNote and VoiceNote Classic.

We wish to stress that technical support and servicing will still be available for BrailleNote Classic, which continues to be a powerful information management tool.

Please also note that should you take advantage of the transplant programme, any counts remaining on your Software maintenance Agreement will be transferred to your BrailleNote mPower.

Should you have any queries, as always, please don?t hesitate to contact your nearest HumanWare office.
Jonathan Mosen
BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager
HumanWare