I grew up in a geeky home with both a dad and older brother consumed with computers.. yet it was not something I wanted to be a part of until I hit college.
Females take to computers in a whole different way. I didn't care how to do the little tasks here and there, like fixing little problems that I deemed 'computer janitor' type jobs that periodically sprung up when I was doing basic gaming and word processing. What I wanted to know was the big picture. I needed things explained to me in terms I could understand/ relate to. Something like 'computer story time' would have sparked my interest when I was little, breaking down how the various components communicate with one another and what their jobs were inside the computer first on a broad scale, then breaking it down into finer pieces as time passes.
Starting a task like 'ok, we are going to install a new nic into the computer' and explaining WHY you are doing it before you do it, what it does, etc and then displaying the results in a meaningful fashion might useful too.
Long story short, fixing something because it is borken just didn't excite me. It doesn't excite a lot of females. Fixing something with a story, with a purpose, with results you can prove to her after the fact.. now that's exciting.
"When I asked him what open source resources were available for him, I was surprised to hear him say, 'Almost nothing.' Is this true?"
For the most part, yes. However, JAWS has a Script Manager that allows the user to write or modify scripts as they please. This certainly isn't a solution for what you are looking for, but any geek can help out the visually impaired-non geek by scripting a few solutions for them.
Concerning Firefox, it's already buzzing about the company hallways and emails. If the customers want Freedom Scientific to support Firefox, they just have to ask. Like all successful businesses, Freedom Scientific is driven by customers needs and wants.
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I grew up in a geeky home with both a dad and older brother consumed with computers.. yet it was not something I wanted to be a part of until I hit college. Females take to computers in a whole different way. I didn't care how to do the little tasks here and there, like fixing little problems that I deemed 'computer janitor' type jobs that periodically sprung up when I was doing basic gaming and word processing. What I wanted to know was the big picture. I needed things explained to me in terms I could understand/ relate to. Something like 'computer story time' would have sparked my interest when I was little, breaking down how the various components communicate with one another and what their jobs were inside the computer first on a broad scale, then breaking it down into finer pieces as time passes. Starting a task like 'ok, we are going to install a new nic into the computer' and explaining WHY you are doing it before you do it, what it does, etc and then displaying the results in a meaningful fashion might useful too. Long story short, fixing something because it is borken just didn't excite me. It doesn't excite a lot of females. Fixing something with a story, with a purpose, with results you can prove to her after the fact.. now that's exciting.
"When I asked him what open source resources were available for him, I was surprised to hear him say, 'Almost nothing.' Is this true?" For the most part, yes. However, JAWS has a Script Manager that allows the user to write or modify scripts as they please. This certainly isn't a solution for what you are looking for, but any geek can help out the visually impaired-non geek by scripting a few solutions for them. Concerning Firefox, it's already buzzing about the company hallways and emails. If the customers want Freedom Scientific to support Firefox, they just have to ask. Like all successful businesses, Freedom Scientific is driven by customers needs and wants.