VIBUG MEETING MINUTES

Date of meeting: January 8, 2000

The meeting was called to order at 1:02 PM. The minutes were read and accepted. Amy clarified some information which was given at our last meeting regarding Norton Anti virus software. She stated that Norton will work with JFW 3.5 if Crashguard is not used. Amy also informed us that in March Bill Kilroy from Henter-Joyce will demonstrate the Magic screen magnification program.

In February, David Bradburn will be demonstrating Kurzweil 1000 and the Speech Recognition System with their new Real Speak synthesizer. Tim will show us the way to access and create audio with the computer in the near future. Amy also reminded people that it was time to renew Vibug memberships. She also announced that Peter Shally had announced that he was selling Roadrunner for $279.00; Disability Specialties has announced that they will sell the product for the same price. She also wanted people to know that the JAWS 3.5 Beta is now available for download. Amy told people that Citizens Bank has now established an on-line Banking Service. She stated that she his currently working with their two web design people to make the site more accessible. Amy asked those who were familiar with on-line banking and who used Citizens Bank to try the service and provide the bank with feedback. She stated that the opportunity was a good one as the first 90 days of use of the service were free.

Amy wanted us to know that VIBUG will be featured as part of a technology program on the Mass. Radio Reading Service. She also announced that VIBUG announcements were now being posted on the Mass. Disability Exchange Mailing List.

As of the date of the meeting, the Article for which Amy had been interviewed did not appear in the Globe. Amy said she was not certain at that point when it would.

Jim Roberts gave the Treasurers report. The total taken in was $1064.70. We spent $954.59 for supplies and services. We started with $594.50 and currently have $1707.61 in our treasury. Amy said that we would also be getting a $20.00 rebate for the modem. Ted suggested that we consider purchasing more professional editors so that Tim could more easily edit tapes and create Audio Files. After some discussion, it was agreed that Tim would let us know what products would best meet his needs.

The issue of giving tapes to people who had missed meetings was discussed. We acknowledged that the policy had been that members received three free tapes, and then the charge was $5.00 per tape. But there was not a clear cut policy for nonmembers and we had not established a good way of tracking this distribution. The consensus was that nonmembers should pay $5.00 per tape. Ted did say that if there was a large demand for tapes that he could assist with copying them.

Amy informed us that there is now a company that is selling JAWS for $539. The Web Site is http://www.ccai-sales.com.

In our question and answer segment, someone pointed out that the Key Repeat Feature in Jaws does not clear the Buffer. Amy stated that this problem has been corrected and works better in 3.5. One other member stated that sometimes in using Insert F-7 the message appears "page cannot be formatted unto itself." It was suggested that Alt-tab should be tried, and then do insert F5. Check to be sure focus is correct with Insert-T and then refresh the screen with insert-escape. The problem occurs when one tries to read the links before the page is fully loaded. Amy stated that in the newer version of JAWS the screen reader will begin reading when page is loaded, thus eliminating the problem. The last item mentioned was that

Corey Samaha has completed a tutorial on Win-amp.

Evan Silver gave a demonstration of Window-eyes from GW Micro, after which the meeting was adjourned at 3:30 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jeanette Kutash,

Clerk