Talk to Me: Windows XP and Mac
I mistakenly hit a key combination the other day that caused my Windows XP machine to start reading aloud to me. This speech-synthesis program is called Narrator, and it works on any XP machine that has a sound card and a speaker.
I must have hit the Windows-U combination. (Note to Mom: The “Windows” key is the key with the little flag, in between Ctrl and Alt, at bottom left of the QWERTY or English-language keyboard.) Microsoft says that Narrator works with “Notepad, WordPad, Control Panel programs, Internet Explorer, the Windows desktop, and some parts of Windows Setup.” It may also work with some other programs, but no one is making the user any promises.
You can also start Narrator this way: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Narrator. Practical PC Online provides several keyboard shortcuts.
The XvsXP.com site, which compares features on Mac OS X with those on Windows XP, has information on how to start Narrator on Windows XP and how to enable speech functions such as reading aloud, voice recognition, and speech synthesis on Mac OS X.
Note: XvsXP.com is moving to the Mac vs. Windows wiki site, where you can sign up to contribute your knowledge.
