Windows 10 accessibility: are you ready to make the jump?

Transcript

23rd August 2015

Roberta: Shortly after the release of Windows 10, Dr Scott Hollier has had a chance to go hands-on with Microsoft’s latest operating system, discovering some new useability improvements and accessibility features on offer. If you’re undecided about making the jump, let Dr Hollier help you decide. Welcome, Scott.

Scott: Thanks Roberta, it’s great to be back.

Roberta: So what is Windows 10?

Scott: Well Windows 10 is Microsoft’s latest operating system and it’s being rolled out across a range of devices. The one that will most commonly come across, the one on our desktop or laptop, but there’s also a Windows 10 for mobiles, there’s a Windows 10 for a variety of things but yeah, today focusing particularly on the new desktop upgrade.

Roberta: So is it more like Windows 7 or 8.1?

Scott: I’d say it’s more like Windows 7 and that’s deliberate. Microsoft have found that a lot of companies didn’t want to upgrade to Windows 8.1 because it was quite different. So it is more like Windows 7 in that you’ve got the Start button, you’ve got that sort of bubble list of things you like to do, but it does still include bits of 8.1 in terms of the Windows store and also there’s a tablet mode. So if you do have a tablet and you want those tile type things that were in with Windows 8.1 you can switch into that mode. So that’s really good in that if you’re using a desktop computer with a usual mouse or keyboard it feels like Windows 7 but if you are using a tablet then you can choose tablet mode and it feels a bit more like Windows 8.1, so the best of both worlds I think.

Roberta: Excellent. What are the new accessibility features?

Scott: Well the one that everyone is talking about is Cortana, which for people who are familiar with an iPhone and Siri will be familiar with the idea where you get to talk to your computer and give it instructions. It will talk back to you and tell you what it can do. In Australia Cortana is not installed by default, but if you set your region and language to English United Kingdom you can get it up and running. Microsoft say that it will be available to the Australian English very soon. But Cortana basically lets you either talk to your computer by saying “hey Cortana” and then giving a command, or you can just click on a microphone button and then it will let you give those commands. And it’s been fun to have a play with and if I say “what is the weather” it does come back and tell me what the weather is. If I ask it to open a program it does open it but like Siri on the iPhone, very every command you get right there’s probably three that it doesn’t understand. I mean for example, I could open Narrator but telling Cortana to do it but I couldn’t get Cortana to close Narrator for me. It’s still a work in progress and it is a very new feature. From a vision impaired point of view, it’s nice that there’s now a feature where you can just talk to your computer and in many cases it will do what you want it to do.

Roberta: So have the original features like Narrator and Magnifier been updated?

Scott: They have a little. Particularly Narrator for the new web browser. So one of the other big things of Windows 10 is their Internet Explorer is now effectively gone, although you can still dig it out if you need to. But it’s replaced with a new web browser called Microsoft Edge and Edge is a much better web browser and so they’ve updated Narrator to make sure it works with that properly. But for Windows 7 users you’ll notice quite a big difference that Narrator is a much better screen reader than it was in 7, and the Magnifier works better with the high contrast themes. But Windows 8.1 users, you probably won’t notice as much of a change in those existing features.

Roberta: I’ve heard the upgrade is free, is there anything I should know before taking the plunge?

Scott: The biggest thing that people should know is that not all current assistive technologies work with Windows 10. So if you’re a JAWS user, or ZoomText user, even NVDA. NV Access put out a message saying that with the new web browser it’s not full compatible yet. So the best advice would be that if you were upgrading, definitely check to make sure that your existing assistive technology programs are supporting Windows 10 and if they’re not I’d probably wait until they do before upgrading. That said, if you’re upgrading from Windows 7 but you want to use built in accessibility features then I’d strongly recommend it because the features have improved greatly since Windows 7. If you’re an 8.1 user, they haven’t changed so much, but Cortana’s fun and yeah, if you don’t have any worries with your assistive technology I reckon it’s worth a go.

Roberta: Well from more information on desktop, mobile and digital accessibility you can call Media Access Australia on 02) 9212 6242, or email info@mediaaccess.org.au.  You can also visit the website, mediaaccess.org.au.  Thank you Scott for that update on Windows 10.

Scott: Always a pleasure.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Dr Scott Hollier from Media Access Australia and if you’d like to contact Media Access Australia you can do so by ringing 02) 9212 6242. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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