Thursday, October 22, 2009

Happy Windows 7 Launch Day!

Today marks the first day that Windows 7 is now available to the general public. I’ve been running the final release for more than a week now, thank you Windows 7 Party Pack, and I’ve noticed a lot of improvements in response over Vista and XP on my older 3 and a half year old Dell. And on a newer system? What a dream..

But before you go out and get yourself a shiny new copy of 7, get the latest drivers and Assistive Technology updates for the programs you use most. Below is a partial lists of some of the big names who are ready now for today’s big launch.

Zoom Text 9.18.5

http://aisquared.com/support/more/updates/

Window Eyes 7.11

http://www.gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes/

Kurzweil 1000 Version 12

http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurz1000.aspx

System Access

http://www.satogo.com/

Dolphin Products Version 11

http://yourdolphin.com/

JAWS 11

http://www.freedomscientific.com/news/pressroom/2009/JAWS-11-released.asp

Saturday, October 17, 2009

7: The Party Begins

Let me first say “Sorry” for not blogging in over a month. It truly was not my intent to avoid, ignore or forget about posting. But real life tends to get in the way  and such is the case when it comes to finding time to blog. And again we can blame Mr.. Calvo for telling me to join Twitter and Facebook for two key reasons why I haven’t blogged in almost an ice age. If you follow me on Twitter you will find I’m quite active there. Almost to the point where you might consider not following me on Twitter because I’m quite active there.

To get down to the topic of this post, I was sent one of those Windows 7 House Party Packs and I’ve been distracted by the full release of Windows 7 that came with the party favors. I have a big event coming up in February and some of these little nick knacks will find their way into the decorations of said event I’m sure. The thing is that this *Party Pack* signifies more than a release novelty for me. It is more like a celebration that beta testing for so many products will be over soon. Excuse me for a second while I wallow in happiness at the thought of that for a second. Woo Hoo!

Okay, back on track, this version of Windows has also been a party because it is almost a non event for me. That isn’t to say that this wasn’t a cake walk for the AT companies. Some are right now doing their best to put the finishing touches on their final releases. And my NFB predictions that just about everyone will be ready for launch day seems to be on the mark at the time of this writing.

No, what I mean by non event is that the release of this new OS has run so smoothly that I haven’t felt the need to blather on about it here on the blog. Each version of 7 I tested ran fine and as it should. No major issues for me outside of my sound card not being found, however, the exact same thing happened in Vista to me on my main box as well. Everything I used in XP or Vista is humming right along in 7. The only thing I did, because it was so cheap and silly for me not to do it, was upgrade from 2 GB to 4 GB. And really was more for the jump to x64 than anything else.

I’ll be posting more thoughts and tips on 7 soon. And I will begin my freak out of Office 2010 over the next few months. Office, by far and large, is the thing I worry about more these days. I’ve had access to the Technical Preview since July and let me say just this.. if you hated the Ribbon then you may want to go scout out a copy of Office 2007 now. 2010 won’t be to your liking and support for Office 2003 will be coming to an end for security patches in less than two years. So buckle up gang.

In the meantime, I’ve got to go read some Host Notes and plan a Geeky Windows 7 Party for me and a few friends who wish not to be recognized in public.

To see what came in the Party Pack, hit the link below..

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/party.asp