Version 11.2 of the Duxbury braille translation software was recently released and includes, among other features, the ability to input Nemeth notation and have it translated to print. Neal Kuniansky, Director of Sales and Marketing for Duxbury Systems, joins us to discuss the latest developments with the software and the progress of their product for the mac in this podcast. Blind Bargains audio coverage of CSUN 2014 is generously sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind.
Transcript
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Hide transcriptDirect from San Diego, it’s BlindBargains.com coverage of CSUN 2014. The biggest names, provocative interviews, and wall-to-wall exhibit hall coverage, brought to you by the American Foundation for the Blind.
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Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J.: We’re here at CSUN 2014 with Neil Kuniansky. He’s the Director of Sales and Marketing for Duxbury, and we’re here to talk about the latest version of Duxbury 11.2. Neil, welcome back to Blind Bargains.
NK: Oh, it’s great to be here. Thanks, J.J.
J.J.: It’s been a little while since you’ve had a major release of Duxbury for Windows, but you did just release Duxbury 11.2 in recent weeks, so tell us a little bit about that.
NK: Well, the most exciting new thing is 11.2 SR1 is now shipping, so it’s even newer. But 11.2 is a pretty huge product. The thing I’m proudest of is the support to a student independently to direct six key in their Nemeth into Duxbury, translate it to print math, and print it out as print math. So a student can independently do their math homework, inputting Nemeth and print math to the teacher that looks just like it would if you wrote it out by hand.
J.J.: This is a computer product. How are you inputting math? Using a Braille display or using the computer keyboard?
NK: Actually, with Duxbury you can use the computer keyboard. The default is the home row keys; the FBS JKL is the six keys of a Braille writer. So you literally six key in your math, and you use the return key to go to the next line, etc.
J.J.: Okay, so it is computer input as opposed to a Braille display.
NK: It is.
J.J.: Is there any ambiguities as far as bad translation, or is that pretty accurate as far as how that works?
NK: It’s really amazingly accurate. What you do is you’re declaring your Nemeth, and then if you switch into verbiage along with it, you mark it, and then go from there. The test we’ve been running is working really, really well. It’s not good for doing spatial math, so if you’re trying to do long division and that sort of stuff, the spacing doesn’t quite hold true. But once you get linear – it’s one of those peculiarities of life; the more complex the mathematics is, the easier it is for us to get it right.
J.J.: Sure. Also, I noticed there’s been several new embossers being announced by some of the other vendors around here; I’m assuming you’re extending support to include those?
NK: Oh, yes. I’m trying to remember what’s new now, because it’s been so…
J.J.: We’ve got the Enabling ones right next door.
NK: Yeah, we’ve got the – what is it, the Trident and the Comet – is it Comet? No. There are two new ones for Enabling. I apologize for the vapor lock in my brain. There’s the Cosmo embosser, which is a new one out of Electronic Brailler. There’s the – not quite so new, but the one from Index. There’s the Dot & Print from American Thermoform, and there’s something else I’m forgetting.
J.J.: Do you still have your support for the LED 120 or whatever?
NK: We still do the LED-120. We can still run a Cranmer Brailler if you can find one that’s working and figure out how to hook it up to a computer.
J.J.: Yeah, there’s probably some cables that you would need to convert something to something to something to something to USB.
NK: Yeah, I think you would.
J.J.: What else is new in 11.2?
NK: 11.2 has a lot of enhancements and improvements, so there’s a whole new version of SWIFT, which gives you a lot more power and flexibility working with and from Word directly. There’s also some, believe it or not, smart phone integration with Duxbury.
J.J.: How does that work?
NK: I’m just going to drop that bomb and let it sit there. Let people wonder and have to find out on their own.
J.J.: I see, okay. Is there an app?
NK: Not yet, but that’s under very active discussion, I’ll put it that way.
J.J.: I see.
NK: There’s also, for UEB, which of course is coming to the States January 2016 to a transcriber near you, it’s already being used in a lot of countries; it’s already built into the program, and we have added three of the learning sequences that are being used in the United Kingdom with UEB are built into the program as well. On the print side, we’ve made a lot of progress in being able to use variable width box for displaying in the translated line and printing out and interline print from Duxbury. There’s easier support for the BANA formats that became official in 2011.
J.J.: Does the UEB, going back to that for a second – obviously, that’s becoming the standard that makes it a lot easier for back translation. That was one of the big reasons this was done, correct?
NK: There were two huge reasons. One was trying to cut out the ambiguities when going from Braille to print or print to Braille, and two was to try to have a single English Braille code that all English speaking countries could use. So in other words, North America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc., could all utilize the same Braille code, thereby cutting out a lot of duplication of transcription, hopefully, of various books, making it more efficient.
J.J.: Do you have any thoughts on UEB and how it’s been implemented, or are you more just interested in the translation? You’re going to do whatever is the standard and make sure it’s there?
NK: We’re going to do whatever the standards are that tell us. It’s not our job to design Braille codes. If asked, yes, we will give an opinion, but UEB is adopted, and so we support it. With Duxbury, even in the U.S., where people still might want to use Nemeth for their math with UEB, we have that ability built into the program. So there’s a lot of flexibility with Duxbury and with UEB.
J.J.: If people wanted, especially for their personal use, you’re not going to take out the contracted Braille options, right?
NK: No, no, no. We don’t throw people off the back of the bus, as we like to say. As I like to say, “EBAE” –our current Braille code – EBAE, will still be built into DBT just like we have the old Quebec Canadian-French Braille code which hasn’t been used for years is still built into DBT as well. We have Moon built into DBT as well.
J.J.: Oh wow. There you go.
NK: That’s been in there for years as well. So we don’t throw people off. We’ve also added an option in DBT where you can export from DBT to a Microsoft Word file via HTML. For some people, that’ll be a lot more interesting.
J.J.: Any new file formats in 11.2?
NK: Now you’ve caught me off guard. I don’t think so.
J.J.: You pretty much caught up a version or two ago with all the Word formats and everything else that was missing.
NK: Right. We do .docx and all that. We don’t do PDF, although there are PDF to pick your file format converters out there that are very good.
J.J.: What about MathML?
NK: MathML, we are currently working on. Two of the things that will be being added to Duxbury are direct import of EPUB 3 files, which you can bring in now, but we want it even cleaner, and also bringing in MathML more cleanly.
J.J.: You’ve talked for a couple years now about the development of the Mac version; how’s that going?
NK: We’re making great progress. The Mac version, I’m expecting to ship in somewhere between – I’ll say by the end of the year, but I’m expecting it much, much, much faster than that. We have a few little fixes to 11.2 to get out, and then it’s full speed ahead on the Mac. We’re darn close to going to public beta with the Mac, so I expect that within two months at the latest.
J.J.: Have you looked at a pricing for that, or is it still up in the air?
NK: Nothing for external consumption. We’re still batting around things. I would not expect it to be very, if any different, than the current DBT Win pricing.
J.J.: But it’s going to be a separate product from the…
NK: It is absolutely a totally separate product. It’s a native OSX application. You will be able to swap files back and forth between DBT Win and DBT Mac. Essentially, all of the power in DBT Win will be in DBT Mac, and they will go forward in sync with each other.
J.J.: Okay. I still see references to Megadots on your website. Are you still developing that, or where does that product sit?
NK: Megadots is still for sale. The development on it, it’s pretty much a mature product at this point. We’ve taken it about as far as we can. We were not able to work out getting UEB in Megadot, so there won’t be UEB support built into Megadots.
J.J.: A bit of a dead end, probably, at some point.
NK: It is, unfortunately. Part of working with the Word and HTML files are to help accommodate people transferring from one program to the other, so we’ve done a lot more work. There’s a whole new Braille template for Word 2010, 2013 that’s coming out. So for transcribers, especially for power users, they’re probably more and more going to be doing everything in Word, just to utilize the power that’s already there to do all your formatting, even hidden codes, everything.
J.J.: So the ones that are still using Megadots, though, at some point you’re going to try to recommend they transition back towards Duxbury?
NK: We hope that’s what they do. I mean, I’m really proud that we’ve been able to keep Megadots functional, especially through Windows 7 and even into Windows 8 as much as we have. I don’t think people realize how much work it is to take a DOS product that is as complex as a Braille translation formatting engine that Megadots is and keep it functional in these new OSes.
J.J.: Sure. Obviously, we’ll definitely keep following the progress of the Mac version and the mobile app hint.
NK: Well, less of a mobile app than a way to sort of utilize your phone to help you get stuff into DBT in the moment.
J.J.: Like an iPrint?
NK: No comment.
J.J.: We’ll keep an eye on it.
NK: Keep an eye out, and remember to ask me next year about mobile apps directly from DBT.
J.J.: Sounds good. The pricing of the update and how people can get a hold of you?
NK: Pricing from the updates, it’s really the same. It varies between $0 to $395 for single user licenses. It’s dependent on when you last purchased your Duxbury. The easiest way – two easy, easy ways to find out: if you’re connected to the web, open your DBT Win, go to the Help menu, and click on “check for updates.” It is supposed to tell you whether your update is free, and if it’s not free, how much it costs. Or just email us –
J.J.: Unless you have a really, really old version.
NK: Really, really old version, if it’s Windows, it’s not going to be more than $395 to upgrade it.
J.J.: Right. And your email address and website?
NK: Email address is info@duxsys.com, and the website, easiest way to get to us, is just duxsys.com, and that’ll spool you over to our website.
J.J.: Great. Thank you so much, as always.
NK: Thanks, J.J. It’s great to see you here in CSUN. Lot of fun.
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
