Crash test dummy

RantWoman has such an odd sense of adventure. For instance, RantWoman recently got to do a spell as a crash test dummy for the Microsoft Usability / Accessibility group for Windows 8 and Narrator / Magnifier the built-in tools in Windows.

RantWoman is decidedly not up on whatever Microsoft is promising with
Narrator, but recently she got to play crash test dummy for their
usability group with a tablet running whatever their build of Windows
8 was. RantWoman uncharacteristically, in her own voice:

I THINK but am not sure and not going to check that I told the testers
the following:

--I am kind of a tablet / touch-screen skeptic because for me tactile
orienters are important to my work habits, kind of wired in at this
point. So my first preference would e a keyboard. But I ride the bus a
lot and would happily compute while commuting except that a keyboard
separated from the screen is two things to hold onto instead of one.

--It would be helpful if the people running the test knew Narrator and
magnifier well enough to suggest topical tweaks of settings.

--The crash test dummy part is that A LARGE percentage of the things
they asked me to try, tweaks in Narrator would not have mattered
because some other key functionality was not properly connected.

--I worked completely nonvisually for awhile and was breaking things
left and right. At some point the testers suggested I try Magnifier. More
things not connected. MAYBE I would get into liking a tablet if
Magnifier worked and things were connected to other functionality.


So when one lives in the belly of the beast, one sees all sorts of Microsofties socially; the one RantWoman spoke to said well, RantWoman's experience is not atypical for this particular phase of testing. RantWoman is reserving judgment.

Plus she knows a number of places that have not even upgraded to Windows 7....