I have never used or even seen Lookout and do not know how well it works or how easy or intuitive it is to use.
Which screenreader is preferable and more easy to use is largely a matter of preference in my opinion. I am a jaws user primarily as this is the screenreader I was first introduced to when I lost my sight 12 years ago. Thus jaws is what I use best and find easiest to use. Several of my friends, however, are Window eyes users and find WE much easier to use.
I have played with WE a bit but never got the hang of it. I have used Thunder, sa2go and nvda to some extent. On my system, Thunder in it various versions has kept crashing. Thunder also does not - or has not - worked directly with Internet Explorer or Firefox. The latest version supposedly does work directly with IE instead of the text-based "WebIE" frontend but when I tried it, was extremely sluggish and did not work well at all.
sa2go is easy to use and works with quite a number of applications. The free version, however, requires an active internet connection. This limits its usefulness. I use nvda for my portable computing needs and find it quite stable and responsive. It's main drawback is its lack of screen review cursor and lack of mouse emulation. it is able to perform mouse clicks on an object under the physical mouse cursor but thus far lacks the ability to emulate the mouse as jaws or we do. NVDA has a review mode that moves the focus according to the widnow hierarchy. this is a bit similar in nature to what "home row mode" Or the "Bart Explorer" tool do in jaws but I personally never mastered those either and find this sort of review mode less than easy and intuitive to use. nvda is undergoing constant development, though, and there has been a lot of progress made recently that is going to be incorporated in future releases.
Since all are free alternatives and will coexist quite happily on the same machine - none have a video intercept - I would personally recommend that your friend try out Thunder, nvda and sa2go and see what works best for him. He might end up using two or all three for different purposes. For example, he might find sa2go best to use as long as he has an online connection and use nvda for offline use.
hth Doris At 10:22 AM 4/29/2010 +0100, you wrote:
Would you say that Thundre and NVDA are easier to use? ----- Original Message ----- From: "TONY CRETNEY" <rac@xxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 10:06 AM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Dual and Lookout Yes this is correct Doris and Chris. The lookout screen reader was a very low cost screen reader which came out a number of years ago. There was a magnification system called Magnice which came out around the same time produced by the same stable. I used to have lookout but never actually mastered it as it had a lot more in the way of keystrokes than I have ever known a screen reader to have. The combination product with lookout and Magnice was called Dual as far as I can remember. Tony ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doris and Chris" <chipmunks@xxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:21 AM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Dual and Lookout > Could this be the Lookout screenreader, a lowcost offering put out by the > ppl who now make Thunder? > > I believe Lookout used some sort of offscreen model but wasn't the hottest > in functionality. I think there also was a lowcost screen magnifier to go > with this but I do not know details. > > hth > > Doris > > > > > At 09:44 AM 4/28/2010 +0100, you wrote: >>Has anyone ever heard of software called Dual and Look out? I have been >>asked to help a guy who claims to have these as speech and magnification. >>He says it's not working but it's difficult to find out much information >>over the telephone as he doesn't seem to know much about it. >> >>Cheers >> >>Barry >> >>** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- >>** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] >>** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: >>** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >>** and in the Subject line type >>** unsubscribe >>** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the >>** immediately-following link:- >>** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] >>** or send a message, to >>** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq >> >>No virus found in this incoming message. >>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>Version: 9.0.814 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2838 - Release Date: 04/27/10 >>02:27:00 > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] > ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > ** and in the Subject line type > ** unsubscribe > ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > ** immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] > ** or send a message, to > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comVersion: 9.0.814 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2840 - Release Date: 04/28/10 02:27:00
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