We extend our deepest condolences to Steve’s family, friends, and colleagues.

On behalf of all of us here at Mac-cessibility, thank you, Steve Jobs, for all that you gave the world…and us.

If you’d like to interact with us during the stream, the best way to do it is by using the #VOLive hash tag on twitter.

If you can’t join us live, then look for a Maccessibility Round Table podcast later on in the week summing up today’s announcements.

This is, and should be, troubling to many Mac and iOS users. Microsoft has shown a distinct disinterest in adhering to accessibility standards on Apple’s platforms. The Microsoft Office suite, for example, has yet to be made compatible with Apple’s accessibility frameworks, and Microsoft has made no known effort to change this. Their Messenger app for iOS is entirely unusable.

In significant contrast to Microsoft, many, if not most, developers for Mac OS X and iOS have been very receptive to improving the accessibility of their applications, due in no small part to the ease with which Apple’s tools make this process. Skype, despite some flaws, was one company that had certainly made a concerted effort, most noticeable in Skype 5, though that version of the program has an interface which blind and sited users alike find lacking for other reasons than accessibility.

Only time will tell if Microsoft will continue to allow the Skype developers to improve and ensure access to this application which many visually impaired users find invaluable. Given Microsoft’s track record, however, the future for VoiceOver users of Skype could potentially be grim.

Fortunately, a workaround has been posted which gives VoiceOver users the ability to install the latest version of the Flash plugin. Here are the steps:

• Download FlashPlayer version 10.1 from Adobe Systems
• Mount the disk image (.DMG) which was downloaded.
• Open the context menu on the installation application included on the disk image – "Install Adobe Flash Player.app" (VO-Shift-M)
• Select the option to "Show Package Contents".
• The contents of the app file will be displayed in a new Finder window. Navigate through the folders to Contents/Resources/
• At that location, you will find an installation package called "Adobe Flash Player.pkg". Open this package with Command-O

At this point, you can follow the normal installation steps, presented as a traditional Mac OS X installer, which is, of course, accessible.

Given the eighteen months to two years we can expect to wait for Flash accessibility, as well as the fact that, had Apple allowed Flash-based apps on the AppStore, VoiceOver users would have been subjected to far greater risks of inaccessibility when purchasing apps on their iOS devices, it is not surprising that users are taking Adobe’s assurances of a commitment to accessibility with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Thanks to John C. Welch and DaringFireball for bringing this workaround to our attention.

We will be covering the event live via this live stream, and listeners may interact with one another and with the hosts of our stream on Twitter by using the hash tag #VOLive in their tweets.

Our coverage will begin streaming shortly before the keynote begins at 10:00 AM PDT, 1:00 PM EDT. We hope to see you there!

Note: We will not be providing audio from the event itself, only announcements and discussion as we collect information from the keynote.

We hope to see you tomorrow!

There have been two transformative moments in my professional career that I associate with gaining equal access to the printed word. The first was in the mid-’90s, when, as a university researcher, my department obtained a braille embosser and access to the fledgling Internet. One afternoon, a graduate assistant who worked with me casually dropped a braille copy of the cover article from that week’s Time magazine on my desk. For the first time, I could read the same text as my sighted colleagues at the same time they did.

The second transformative moment took place Monday evening, April 5, 2010. On that night, I purchased a book from a book store, exactly as my sighted neighbors and colleagues would. I then sat in my den and read that book on the same device as my sighted counterparts.

Be sure to click (or tap) here to read the full review.

Last month, Adobe promised Flash and Flex accessibility for Mac OS X in the future, though by all accounts that is at least eighteen months away. Applications currently available for the iPhone that were developed using Adobe’s Flash to iPhone app technology are inaccessible with VoiceOver.

A lot has changed since the introduction of VoiceOver. Here are some highlights:

• The creation of the Mac Visionaries community of visually impaired Mac users
• The birth of the Screenless Switchers podcast
• The introduction of Mac-cessibility
• The release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard with VoiceOver enhancements
• iTunes introduces Closed Captioning in movie downloads
• NFB publishes their first flawed review of VoiceOver in Leopard
• Apple presents at CSUN
• Apple’s access efforts gains mainstream attention on MacWorld
• Apple extends its educational discount to students of Hadley School for the Blind
• AFB erroneously claims users can’t sync music with iTunes and VoiceOver
• OpenOffice gains Mac accessibility
• Full VoiceOver support is announced for iTunes
• iPod nanos gain speaking menus for accessibility
• Apple teams up with GW Micro to improve accessibility of iTunes in Windows
• Apple launches official accessibility site
• Apple and NFB reach agreement on iTunes access
• AccessWorld publishes a more accurate review of VoiceOver
• iWork becomes accessible
• The Mac-cessibility Round Table podcast is launched
• Apple announces and releases the iPhone 3GS with VoiceOver
• The VIPhone community is born
• NFB publishes a highly inaccurate review of VoiceOver, prompting community responses
• The Mac-cessibility Network is launched
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is released with huge improvements to VOiceOver
• iPhone OS 3.1 is released with enhanced access
• Assistiveware releases Proloquo2Go for the iPhone
• Digidesign demonstrates upcoming access to ProTools
• The NFB publishes a more accurate look at VoiceOver
• Apple unveils the iPad, which includes the same access features as the iPhone
• iBooks to include VoiceOver accessibility
• iPad is released with spectacular accessibility

iBooks will be available for other iPhone OS devices later this summer.

We’d like to thank Shaun for taking hte time to address M.J.’s concerns, and hope that the Mac-cessibility Network can continue to encourage constructive discussions like this one.