Still = Silly Thing I Learned Today

My day job is what’s called a Knowledge Management Specialist. This means I have to know a lot about the different information sharing platforms such as SharePoint, Confluence, Igloo, WordPress, Google Docs, etc.

I am currently unable to type. This means I have to dictate to the computer in order to use it or “type”. Thankfully I have a Mac, so it can happen without going to outside servers, meaning it’s a lot more secure.

However.

Microsoft hates Macs, so there are quite a few annoying quirks when using Microsoft software on a Mac.

First, anything I say has to be a single, fluid sentence with no pauses or stops. If not, Dick Tation (yes, I named it) appears more like, “Anything I satHas to be a single,Fluid sentenceWithNo pauses orStops.”

Secondly, when dictating into the comments when collaborating, it Office 365 doesn’t recognize that there’s a comment until a key is actually pressed on the keyboard. Which kills the ability to leave comments if you can’t actually type. Turns out Microsoft thinks this is good accessibility design. Apparently we have very different ideas as to what accessibility means …

Given that Microsoft’s dictation goes out to their servers, and I work for a company that legally can’t share information over an unsecured connection and/or on unvetted servers, anyone using dictation who works for our company has to use a local solution. Which is basically a Mac or Dragon. And since we also need to be fiscally responsible, buying additional software for something the computer already does natively is a hard sell.

Now some of you may say hold on, Macs cost more than Windows machines. Why yes, that’s true. However, the Mac’s useful life is also many times longer than a windows machine, it’s more secure, and has lower maintenance costs. So yes, Windows is cheaper to buy, and Mac is cheaper to have.

Some may disagree with me, and that’s ok. This has been proven time and again in our environment, so that’s the fiscally responsible decision for our company.

Of course your mileage may vary … no two computer environments are identical, and perhaps it works out the other way for your company. And that’s fine, too!

But that still doesn’t make Microsoft’s inability to fathom what accessibility means any easier to work with.

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