The sample size is very small in these surveys,  but they definitely show the paradigm shift and I won't be surprised at all to see mobile, mac voiceover, and nvda useage up, and jaws useage down.  Window-eyes use should fall right off the charts since the product is discontinued.  This will help slow the skid of jaws, but I think at least as many window-eyes switchers made it to NVDA as to jaws, despite the fact that jaws 18 was a free upgrade for Many window-eyes users.

Since the new paradigm puts the blind more or less on an equal playing field, and social, legal and economic trends all support moving in that direction it shouldn't be too surprising that blind users want it more and more.  I have thought for years that 2021 is about the final stopping point for old paradigm designs, particularly the personal computer, but I can see a lot of tradition going by the board by then.  This is all good for us, and it's nice to have something concreet to demonstrate the trend we can all see happening around us.

Have fun,

Erik

On October 2, 2017 12:57:37 AM "Sarah k Alawami" <marrie12@...> wrote:

Wow, interesting. I'm not surprised. I wonder what we'll see this year now that a lot of us are switching to nvda and or android and or voiceover.

 

Take care

On Oct 1, 2017, at 9:34 PM, Gene New Zealand <hurrikennyandopo@...> wrote:

 

hi Bhavya

 

I have been following the surveys after they  survey  has finished.

 

I have also been noticing that the number of jaws users have been dropping along with a few of the commercial screen users and magnifiers etc.

 

Also the use of mobile units starting to rise as in the use of android and apple devices that can go portable.

 

For me mostly home use is nvda 100 percent of the time and if mobile a android device.

 

Gene nz

 

 

On 10/1/2017 2:20 AM, Bhavya shah wrote:

Dear all,

Since almost a decade, WebAim, a non-profit web accessibility

consultancy organisation, has been conducting an annual (sometimes

biennial) survey, which, as its name implies, attempts to gather

statistics about the usage share of different screen readers,

technology (particularly Internet) accessibility trends, etc. so as to

aid analysts, researchers, accessibility consultants, sighted

developers, and mainstream companies to get a quantified picture of

the state of the AT industry.

While this survey features participation from varied geographies,

NVDA’s user base, at least in my personal view, has always been

understated. While 8% respondents of the first December 2008 WebAim

survey reported to be NVDA users, this figure has only increased to

14% of respondents in its 2015 counterpart claiming to use NVDA as

their primary screen reader and 41% using it commonly, a usage share

substantially lower than NVDA’s commercial and more expensive screen

reading alternatives.

I think it would be a great way of playing our tiny part in getting

the word out about NVDA’s viability and competency  if all NVDA

community members, users, testers and other related parties,

particularly from second and third world developing regions which

often remain silent for such surveys but where free and open source

NVDA makes a prominent impact, take this survey and contribute to

letting the world know about the size and standing of the NVDA user

base.

The URL of said survey is  https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/

.

It took me about ten minutes to fill this survey and the form was

extremely accessible. Not only from an NVDA angle, but filling such

surveys always brings out useful and reflective data, which, in turn,

betters AT as a whole. Therefore, I urge everyone to take some time

out for this survey so that we can make the data truly reflective of

the actualities.

Thanks.

P.S. I am in no way affiliated to WebAim nor is my intention to merely

promote this survey.

 

--

Check out my website for NVDA tutorials and other blindness related material at http://www.accessibilitycentral.net Regardless of where you are in New Zealand if you are near one of the APNK sites you can use a copy of the NVDA screen reader on one of their computers. To find out which locations (or location) is near to you please visit http://www.aotearoapeoplesnetwork.org/content/partner-libraries (Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa). To find an NVDA certified expert near you, please visit the following link https://certification.nvaccess.org/. The certification page contains the official list of NVDA certified individuals from around the world, who have sat and successfully passed the NVDA expert exam.