Experimental approaches in sensory substitution are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera.

Access technology such as screen readers and Screen magnifiers enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications. Almost 10 percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. Screen reader choice is contentious: differing priorities and strong preferences are common. Recent versions of Microsoft Windows come with the rather basic Narrator. Most legally blind people 78 percent do not use computers. The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers. Increasingly, screen readers are being bundled with operating system distributions. The primary audience for such applications is those who have difficulty reading because of learning disabilities or language barriers. This interpretation is then represented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille output. The console-based Oralux Linux distribution ships with three screen-reading environments: Emacspeak, Yasr and Speakup. Nevertheless functionality remains limited compared to equivalent desktop applications, the major benefit is to increase the accessibility of said websites. A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen. The open source GNOME desktop environment long included Gnopernicus and now includes Orca. Linux distributions for the blind include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix. Later versions of Microsoft Windows include an Accessibility Wizard and Magnifier for those with partial vision, and Microsoft Narrator, a simple screen reader.

Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access.

Web browsers, word processors, icons and windows and email programs are just some of the applications used successfully by screen reader users. Further, using a screen reader is, according to some users, considerably more difficult than using a GUI and many applications have specific problems resulting from the nature of the application. There are also open source screen readers, such as the Linux Screen Reader for GNOME and NonVisual Desktop Access for Windows.

The latter developed in part by Knopper who has a visual impairment. Screen readers can be assumed to be able to access all display content that is not intrinsically inaccessible.

The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. While Apple Mac OS X includes VoiceOver, a more feature-rich screen reader. Comming year medical volunteer Anthony Loeff is testing software for blind people Screen readers are a form of assistive technology potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT such as screen magnifiers. A persons choice of screen reader is dictated by many factors, including platform and the role of organizations like charities, schools, and employers.

The Macintosh OS also comes with a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver.

Is your software development process as unpredictable as the weather? Is your software casting a shadow causing six more weeks of programming? Are you using a marketing requirements document (MRD) or magic to predict your software release schedule?

Early in my career, I worked in a lab for a company that sold microwave devices. I was responsible for the HP computer system that ran the software used to design the circuits. One day a tech support guy from HP came by. He asked what we did in the lab. When I told him “designing microwave circuits”, he said, “Oh, I hear they use a lot of FM”.

I paused and tried to remember if Frequency Modulation was really used in these circuits. Before I could respond, the guy from HP continued, “Yeah, it takes a lot of F—–g Magic to make those circuits work!”

He was right. A major issue with microwave circuits in those days was creating them with a high-yield manufacturing process. Too often there was much tuning and tweaking of individual devices with toothpicks and tweezers to make shipment dates.

Since then I have worked on a few software projects where some amount of “FM” was required to get the software released.

How about your software projects? Do they drift along never seeming to finish? Do they require the heroic efforts of a few individuals to make your shipment dates?

Outsourcing can solve the issues of delayed software releases by imposing more process on your software development - more process than is typically used in an organization where everyone is working in close proximity.

Outsourcing vendors need to have a well-defined process and excellent communication to be successful. Software development is all that they do. Outsourcing not only gives you the benefit of having your software developed for less cost, but also a process that provides improved predictability, results and success.

But many remain fearful of outsourcing. The number one concern is losing control of the software development process.

One client expressed it this way. “I can’t just tell the programmers what to do on a day-to-day basis. It would be like hiring a contractor to build a house and telling him to put a window over there and a door over here. You have to understand what impact that will have on the plumbing and electrical and the building of the rest of the house.”

He is right. You need to have some idea of the architecture and the plan for construction. Working together with a few programmers in the same room can sometimes let you make some shortcuts and share the plan by informal word of mouth. “Just put a pop-up window over here.”

Except for small and simple projects, this informal communication does not work. You need some description of the requirements for the software. You need to find a way to efficiently communicate the requirements of your software so you can move beyond the “idea” stage with the vision for your software.

The first step in creating a software product is to write a Marketing Requirements Document or MRD. It contains a brief description of all the features, functions and benefits your product must have to be successful in the marketplace.

Some companies make a distinction between an MRD and a PRD - a Product Requirements Document. The PRD has more details on what the software should do. For example, you need both an MRD and PRD when you are creating several services and products. The MRD describes the product strategy, market positioning and sales channels required to deliver the products with specific sets of functionality to the market. The PRD on the other hand focuses on the detailed requirements of the software itself.

The MRD or PRD should include basic architecture and the critical user interface for your software:

* Software architecture

* Hardware platform selection

* Functional specification

* User interface design

*Multiple “use cases” describing how users will interact with your software

* Story board demo (optional)

* Major release milestone schedule

* Quality Assurance testing

* Technical Documentation requirements

* Detailed schedule (up to completion of first major milestone)

* Cost estimate for cost-efficient and time-effective outsourcing development

Your marketing requirements document or MRD describes the functionality of your software product and how it will be sold and distributed. It is also a device to control your software development process, especially if you outsource. Otherwise you run the risk of delays, poor quality and just not knowing what you are doing.

Steve Mezak is a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and international outsourcing expert. Get your copy of his free report on “Outsourced Development - A Secret Weapon for Quickly Creating Software Products” now at http://www.Accelerance.com

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US software market plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across USA.

• Sales. Microsoft CRM in opposite to former CRM leaders, such as Siebel, Onyx, Saleslogix doesn’t need hard pushing sales efforts. It also should probably not be sold to the company top management, but rather to IT department enthusiasts, who are in charge for specific legacy business system support and data fixing. Microsoft CRM is very simple from business logic and intuitively understood by IT group. It is rather very simplified version of full-featured CRM, such as again Siebel.

• Installation. Microsoft CRM should be either hosted or installed by in-house IT group. And this is due to the fact, that MS CRM utilizes all the resent Microsoft technologies: MS Exchange Server 2003/2000, Active Directory, MS SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, MS Outlook client, Microsoft IIS, .Net components, etc. This makes installation sensitive to existing setup of the above components

• Implementation. The crucial in the implementation is Workflow design, which should be probably done by consultant with IT in-house specialist. This process doesn’t require a lot of business consulting knowledge and in our experience company middle management actually makes suggestions in the time of initial presentation. In the case of MS CRM Sales module - the workflow should organize leads processing up to the point of closing the deal and following invoicing. When workflow is realized sales team works as excellent orchestra.

• Customization. Usually MS CRM ties together existing legacy business systems and replaces large portion of them. Typical case - if you are freight forwarding client and have cargo tracking system - you should more likely have lookup from the MS CRM account screen to the customer current shipments statuses. This is usually made as small web application, created in Visual Studio.Net with MS CRM SDK and SQL queries to legacy database.

• Support. Because MS CRM is web application - it can be used by remote users and automate operations across the whole USA and even Worldwide. The same should be said about MS CRM support - your Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Partner can support your installation remotely from say office in Middle-Of-No-Where-City as if it is located across the street.

Good luck implementing, customizing and reports designing and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call : 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is MS CRM Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Navision, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving client in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, UK, Australia, New Zealand and having locations in multiple states and internationally