Disabilities and Computing Program

In March, 2010 AI Squared released Zoomtext Version 9.18.8. According to the company, it now fully supports the 64-bit Windows 7 environment.

Details can be found on the Zoomtext Release Notes page.

On March 15, 2010, the Version 11.05 patch for Kurzweil 3000 was released. This is a bug-fix release.

Extensive details and a series of troubleshooting solutions can be found at: Kurzweil 3000 Version 11 – Patches and Updates

Some notable items:

Firefox is the recommended browser, but the Kurzweil Read The Web feature must be updated manually whenever a new Firefox update is installed.

In 64-bit environments, the Taskbar Updater and Kurzweil Virtual Printer must be installed separately (in addition to the main Kurzweil program). Download links for these tools are provided from the above link.

Michael Bernstein, a development lead on the User Interface Platform team for Microsoft Windows has written a detailed article: Accessibility In Windows 7. He describes four areas of improved accessibility in Windows 7, which will be the successor to Windows Vista.:

• The Windows Automation API provides more and clearer ways for applications to communicate with adaptive technology software. This means more features should be accessible out of the box. It is available to programmers in C++ and .Net. This system replaces but is designed to be compatible with the older Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA).
• There are enhancements to the Windows access tools: an improved On-Screen Keyboard (with word prediction) and Magnifier (now with modes for Full Screen and Lens magnification).
• There are new software checking tools for programmers: AccChecker and UIA Verify,
  which have been released as open-source.
• Accessibility engineers now monitor new Windows features for “accessibility risk”. The goal is to identify and fix emerging problems, so that Windows itself doesn’t create accessibility barriers.