Steinberg > Accessibility > FAIL

Cubase
#1

Having just installed Elements 8, I was little short of horrified to see the following error message when I started it:

This steinberg product does not support “basic and high contrast themes” on Windows operating systems. Please use one of the “aero” themes that you can set in the windows control panel.

So, in one foul swoop Steinberg simply dismiss their visually impaired customers. Thanks guys.
I can imagine the board meeting where this ridiculous, unbelievably offensive decision was made, “Well, it would be a lot easier and cheaper if we dropped support for these high contrast and simple themes…” “But what about people who have sight problems and need to use these themes?” “Ah screw them, they’re only a minority and who gives a flying fart about disabled people anyway.”

And please, don’t start telling me that there were technical issues and that there was NO way around the problem, because I use a LOT of different commercial software products and this is the ONLY time I have ever encountered such nonsense.

I suppose I’ll just have to see if I can get a refund from the seller, but now that it’s been opened and registered, I doubt I’ll have much joy.

Great job Steinberg, you’ve really made my day, thanks again.

#2

Hey there. I am blind so I understand your frustration. However, I think you will have much more success in general if you give companies/organizations the benefit of the doubt instead of being so confrontational from the start. I find it’s typically not that they deliberately decided to exclude blind/visually impaired users but rather that they just didn’t consider it at all.
As you noted, we represent a tiny share of the market, so it’s quite probable they have never had any previous contact from a visually impaired user of their software. Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt and assume yours is the first such complaint they have received.

Did they ever get back to you on this?

#3

Ok, it’s been a few years since this post and I ave been using Cubase since V5. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Steinberg, along with many others are DISCTIMINATORY". They don’t give a flying F*(k about visually impaired users. Choosing to bury their heads by ignoring messages asking about even little things like taggingolume and peak levels or track titles. It is all about boy using Windows Classes or MAC equivalents. Rather creating their own classes so that one version fits multiple platforms.

Native Instruments has a Komplete Kontrol system which gives speech output but only for the MAC and NOT FOR CUBASE as it seems thar Steinberg don’t gove a hoot about visually impaired people. It’s funny because even though we are blind but not deaf, they may as well remove that sense as well. Are visually impaired people the last we storm of disabled people and therefore not worth bothering with? But making there software inaccessible, that is EXACTLY what Steinberg are saying.

I love the sound of the instruments both in Cubase and the Absolute, but I am finding it impossible to use, even though for the moment, Wacelab is accessible.

What does that tell me?