 |
Products & Services | Purchase | Downloads | Support |
News | Distributors | Corporate Info | Contact Us | Search |
|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
The following press announcement was released on April 11, 2001 by the Communications Department of IBM Japan Ltd. Japanese-Language JAWS for Windows 3.7 Release (IBM Japan Ltd. April 11, 2001) -- IBM Japan Ltd. (President: Takuma Otoshi) announced that it will release JAWS for Windows (IBMR Version) version 3.7, a screen reader for vision-impaired individuals with Japanese-language support, on April 20, 2001. Abbreviated from "Job Access With Speech," JAWS is a tool that supports computer users who are vision-impaired who carry out a variety of business processes such as office management, business operations, product development and customer service in improving their work environment using information technology. Unveiled in the U.S. by Henter-Joyce in 1995, the product now supports 12 languages including German, French, and Italian, and has become the most widely used screen reader in the world with over 55,000 users. The Japanese version has been jointly developed since May 1999 by the IBM Japan Accessibility Center and Henter-Joyce, a division of Freedom Scientific Inc., a leading company in the development of software for the people who are blind or vision-impaired. JAWS is capable of reading aloud Windows menus and screens of other applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and web browsers. This powerful screen-reading feature actively analyzes panel and window layouts while speaking. JAWS includes a programming feature called scripting. With this feature, users can tailor the screen reader to work with various applications according to the skill level of individual users and specific operations simply by writing scripts. Scripting can also be used to make the screen reader support new applications in a flexible manner. The product announced today will be shipped with scripts specialized for Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, Outlook Express 5.5, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x. The Japanese-language version of JAWS utilizes the accumulated screen reading and scripting technologies of Henter-Joyce, along with the Japanese-language processing and voice synthesis technologies (ProTALKER 97 is bundled) developed by IBM Japan's Tokyo Research Laboratory. It allows users to hear screen information and input data using only the keyboard without having to touch the mouse at all. The JAWS package includes a variety of means for visually impaired users so that they can start using the product smoothly, such as the system installation process with voice guidance, introductory training tapes, and a keyboard operation guide in Braille. In addition, IBM Japan offers a number of support options such as the "a-Desk," where users can get a 30-day, free-of-charge support regarding operation of the product. IBM Japan has further plans to develop version(s) that support Lotus Notes R R5 in order for the visually impaired individuals to use GroupWare in their work environments and Braille displays. Freedom Scientific Inc. emerged as the largest manufacturer of software and hardware for people with vision impairments in the United States when it was formed by the merger of Henter-Joyce, Blazie Engineering and Arkenstone in early 2000. The consolidation of these companies brought together expertise in the development and manufacturing of both hardware and software assistive technology products. Freedom Scientific's Web site can be accessed at www.FreedomScientific.com. IBM and ProTALKER
are trademarks of IBM Corporation. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective copyright holders. For further press-related
information, contact:
|
 
|
|||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||