Letter to Vispero Concerning Working with Pneuma Solutions Regarding Remote Incident Manager.

Today, I have sent the below letter to Vispero at Management level in the hope of eliciting a response and action from them. The purpose of the letter is in the hope of forging an effective relationship and action between the two companies so as to improve upon the already existing functionality of JAWS working alongside Remote Incident Manager for the provision of technical support and training.

If you as a blind person are reading this, and especially if you are contemplating working in the access technology field, I urge you to please contact Vispero with a similar request so as to encourage them to liaise with Pneuma Solutions in this regard.
Please let them know that you are using Remote Incident Manager alongside JAWS or Fusion and how the lack of Braille support, (and viewing the visual changes made by Fusion), are impacting your effectiveness in terms of support provision.
In addition, it may be helpful if you boost this post if you are reading it on social media, and/or, raise the subject in the next FS Open Line call.
As you will see below, a number of us have attempted to do this with little result. While I accept there will need to be a commitment of time and resources on both sides, I hope what I am requesting is fair and there will be tremendous gain for many people.

Thank you for reading.

Dear Sir or Madam

I would like to please formally request that Vispero give serious consideration to working with Pneuma Solutions in order to make it possible for JAWS and ZoomText Fusion to communicate more effectively with their Remote Incident Manager tool.

To be brief, RIM is becoming increasingly popular with blind people in order that we can more effectively train people in the use of assistive technologies and, of equal importance, to troubleshoot and resolve difficulties people may be having. The vast majority of actions on a computer can be conducted: from the updating of the Windows operating system, through to installing applications including JAWS or Fusion, carrying out repairs to those tools and even demonstrating concepts and programs a person may not have installed on the computer. More information can be found here.
https://pneumasolutions.com/products/rim/

How one connects to the user's computer is achieved through one of two very simple procedures: either a mutually agreed key word can be entered by both the controller and target user, or in some cases, an "Unattended Installation" can be configured in order that a company representative can automatically connect to the computer belonging to the person having difficulty. This second option is extremely helpful as will be described below. Naturally, one must not abuse the privilege the user has agreed to.

Please do not be under the misapprehension that RIM is only being used to support users at home. Through effective advocacy, I have been able to ensure that RIM is installed on users' machines in corporate and similar environments so I am able to carry out JAWS scripting and training every week.

For many years, JAWS has contained a level of such support through its Tandem feature. A person can at no additional cost connect to a user's machine to carry out training and troubleshooting. However, JAWS Tandem has considerable disadvantages over using a powerful tool such as RIM.

Let me start with the most important. It is by no means an easy process for the user to enter the required User ID. Since Tandem was introduced, I have strongly advocated for two fundamental improvements to JAWS Tandem:
A. For a shortcut to be placed on the Windows desktop so as to drop straight into Tandem, rather than having to locate the JAWS window, select Utilities and open up Tandem.
B. To improve the mechanism for entering a suitable Meeting ID. There are hundreds of blind people using JAWS who seriously struggle to do this. Some users have no hands, are learning to type, have learning difficulties or they possess poor keyboarding skills. As a result, they use software to talk to the computer. If that software is not functioning, it is impossible either to locate JAWS Tandem or enter the Meeting ID. Even if it is functioning, by speaking to the computer, letters and numbers can be misinterpreted and so the connection is unable to be established.

If a user has rudimentary keyboarding skills, (perhaps he or she is just learning to touch type), much time is lost by having to work through the logistics of locating JAWS Tandem and entering the Meeting ID.

Vispero product users with little or no keyboarding skills are at an immediate disadvantage. They are JAWS or Fusion users but they are unable to access a core component of what they are paying for.
These are not extreme cases. People who have recently lost their vision are likely to have little or no keyboarding skills, so they have no chance of ever getting the JAWS Tandem process started. This is an extremely serious situation which should not be overlooked or ignored. People in this category of users are being penalised; at best these people struggle to use Tandem and the worse case scenario is that they cannot use it at all.

JAWS Tandem has other disadvantages.
A. People while away from home are unable to log into their computer since JAWS Tandem requires the entry of the previously mentioned Meeting ID.
B. If JAWS inadvertently restarts, the Tandem connection is lost. When considering this point, please bare in mind my earlier observations concerning the hardship presented to JAWS Tandem users when initiating a remote connection using this tool. If it does occur, the entire process needs to be started again.
C. If JAWS is not installed at all, there is no mechanism by which a remote Consultant could install it.
D. The machine cannot be restarted to complete updates.
E. Files cannot be transferred to the target machine and vice-versa. This is particularly of benefit when carrying out scripting for applications or for sharing documents or support materials during training sessions.

These and other factors are reasons why many of us are turning to RIM from Pneuma Solutions. Everybody wins. As personnel supporting other blind people, we can resolve more technical difficulties in a shorter time-frame. We can also provide more effective training as the end user is not stressed to the point where he or she cannot focus upon it due to the inability to connect via JAWS Tandem.

What are the difficulties when using RIM with JAWS or Fusion?

There are two significant problems which need to be overcome and where Vispero's assistance is required:
1. While it is possible to control all aspects of the target computer including JAWS-based functions, and hear speech output as a result, there is no Braille output. The disadvantages of this are:
A. People who are deaf-blind cannot provide the same level of high quality technical support to users.
B. If a Trainee is using a Braille display, time is wasted since a description of what is being shown on the display needs to be communicated back to the controller.
C. If scripting for an application, and where there is an emphasis on Braille support, it is not possible to immediately see the result of the newly created access.
2. If using Fusion, visually it is not possible to determine the effect Fusion is having on the target computer. The sighted user is unable to verify the effectiveness (or otherwise) of Fusion-based features which have been implemented, such as colour changes, the magnification level which has been set, and so on.

How Can Vispero Help?

On 22 August 2022, Pneuma Solutions and I wrote to your company seeking your assistance. This was prior to the release of JAWS version 2023. While there was a clear expectation that no action would be forthcoming for JAWS 2023, it was hoped that some progress may have been made within the time between August 2022 and now.

Since that time, I have discussed this with Vispero personnel, with the end result being correspondence I have received, stating that this is not something you are able to attend to at this time. This is disappointing news to say the least. JAWS Tandem is a feature which has not been improved upon, almost since its inception. I hope I have highlighted the need for such improvement. I would have thought that if the enhancement of JAWS Tandem is not part of your product roadmap, it would be in the interests of everyone to perhaps set some time aside so as to assist Pneuma Solutions in providing the access we are seeking, thereby assisting many of your customers in turn.

Specifically, What Is It That Pneuma Solutions Require?

Since screen-readers such as JAWS communicate directly with Braille displays, a program like RIM doesn't currently have a clean way to find out what is being shown on the Braille display so it can send that information back to the controller, nor does RIM have a way of sending raw Braille input back to JAWS. The NVDA screen-reader is able to facilitate this through a specially prepared Addon Pneuma Solutions have created. But this is not currently an option for JAWS.

Pneuma Solutions are seeking your input so as to create an API that allows them to receive the output that would go to a Braille display, regardless of whether the machine actually has an active display. This output should be already translated to Braille cells, so they can show exactly what the target user is getting on their Braille display if they have one, for training and tech support purposes. The API should also allow for the passing of raw Braille input events back to JAWS.

Note that this API should work concurrently with the target machine's actual Braille display, if it has one. It would not be desirable to implement a virtual Braille display driver that would replace the target's Braille display representation, since the technician or trainer may be working together with the target user.

In addition, while the RIM remote session window is focused on the controller machine, it is necessary to display the raw Braille cells received from the target, and send raw Braille input events to the target.

Presumably, a similar high level discussion (and manipulation) would need to take place centring around relaying the visual aspects of ZoomText Fusion.

Conclusion.

I understand that you did provide a level of assistance to Pneuma Solutions to allow for JAWS keyboarding to be handled more effectively with RIM and I sincerely thank you for that. But given the difficulties some users have with JAWS tandem as stated above, and that this need for your input and expertise has been requested over many months, I am asking you please to seriously consider working with Pneuma Solutions so as to reach a point where the need for Braille output (from JAWS) and visual representation of Fusion visual activity can be satisfied. In fairness to yourselves, I will also be actively requesting that other blind people who are faced with the same request should contact Vispero in whichever way they feel appropriate in order that you can learn the depth of feeling behind this very important issue. Let us work together to foster a positive change.

Thank you for reading.