To: Curtis Chong 
Subject: Re: Has anyone used MEGA-DOTS ?
CC I have used Megadots and like it just fine.  For braille purists,
CC it may not be as robust as Duxbury, but it does a fine job of
CC reading many different kinds of word processor files.
I've observed that quite a few braille purists as you called them have
made the switch to MegaDots. I coordinate the computer-assisted
transcription workshops for the National Braille Association and have
witnessed attendance at and requests for Duxbury workshops decrease
throughout the years.
At first braille transcribers scorned both translation programs. "Real"
braillists used six-key entry programs like Edgar, Microbraille, and
Pokadot. These simple programs are cheap and can run on very small
machines and for many transcribers, that's all they will ever want or
need.
However using this first-generation braille production software requires
lots of manual work and woe to you if you change your mind on
formatting--making changes can be excruciatingly tedious and slow.
I've watched transcribers marvel at how easy editing can be with a
second generation program such as MegaDots. More often than not they
say something like "if you only knew how long it took me to do
that!" or "That's all you have to do?." To its credit, Raised Dot
Computing has listened to braillists and has recently implemented
quite a few features which simplify and automate routine tasks of
transcription. It's a pity that MegaDots is not as stable as one would
like it to be. Recent backup and autosave features have helped out but
it's still a bummer when it crashes. This instability is probably the
main reason that other braille production houses have not switched to
MegaDots.
Both the current Duxbury Braille Translator and MegaDots are changing the
role of the transcriber. The specialist does not have to do all of the
data entry but can become an editor--checking, refining, or tweaking the
work of others.
It will be intersting to see where both braille productions programs go
from here. I'm glad there's competition. It keeps both of them on their
toes.
Warren
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