Freedom Scientific product talking installers being dropped

Freedom Scientific product talking installers being dropped

Information

Below is information concerning forthcoming changes to the talking installers provided for Freedom Scientific products including JAWS, Zoomtext, Fusion.

What have Freedom Scientific announced?

As of the February update to the 2022 products there will no longer be a talking installer because most users download product and run the installer with speech from an existing product enabled. Where they do not have an existing speech product running customers are advised to use Narrator to provide speech during install.

When does the change come into effect?

Feburary 2022

Freedom Scientific announcement text

For years, our software products provided the ability to immediately install components to enable our screen reader to give users a full talking installer. This was necessary when installing on a computer without a screen reader running if you needed speech. In 2017, technical issues caused us to stop doing that. At the time, it was decided that we would create WAV files to simulate screen reading during the installation if you did not have a screen reader running. This had the side effect of forcing everyone that didn't need a screen reader to hear these WAV files each time during installs. Since we are no longer sending software to users on DVDs, people are clearly downloading and accessing our software via the web. This means they already have speech running, don't need speech to proceed, or they have assistance with installation. As of the February update, these WAV files are being removed from the install package. If you require speech for installation, you will be expected to run Narrator or some other version of our software (or other products) you may currently have installed.

Removing the WAV files has the following advantages:

  • Reduces the installer package size.
  • The modern Microsoft Installers we use today work great with Narrator, giving users a chance to navigate and review if necessary. This is something the WAV files did not offer.
  • Allows Braille access of the installer dialogs via an existing running product or Narrator.
  • We can modify our installer more rapidly without having to create WAV files in every supported language.

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