Remember when Bill Gates was unveiling Windows 98 at the Comdex, the Operation System crashed infront of a gathering of some 85,000 computer professionals. It was one of the most embarrassing moments for the Microsoft and the world's richest man.
Well, history was repeated at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting when the much hyped speech recognition feature in Windows Vista did not behave as expected. The guy giving the demo kept on talking to Windows Vista and the program never obeyed him - "Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all." [video after the post]
Nuance executives may be finding it very tough to hide their smiles in this situation. They just released Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 which is more accurate than Dragon 8 and eliminates the need to train the software to a user's voice. No wonder, Dragon 9 has received excellent reviews from tech gurus including David Pogue and Marc Orchant.
Microsoft developers are now running for cover and posting excuses and reasons on their blogs as to why the speech recognition demo had gone awry. Infact, things were not so bad when Microsoft showcased Vista speech technology for the first time, most people got impressed with the initial demo video.
If the latest Vista speech demo fiasco had not taken place, a lot of people would have deferred buying Dragon 9 since a similar (or better) technology was coming for free in Vista next year. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore and Nuance sales will only receive a major boost. Naunce, stop smiling and send a Thank You note to 1, Redmond Way.
Maybe, when the Dragon trial software is available on the Nuance website, I'll download Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 and post a detailed review on this blog.
Update: PC Magazine has done an even more comprehensive review of Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional [watch video] - Dragon 9 automatically integrates with all sorts of popular Windows applications, including all Microsoft Office apps, Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Corel WordPerfect, Mozilla's Firefox browser, and more. Open the floating DragonBar, open Microsoft Word, and you're ready to dictate.
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/08/dragon-naturallyspeaking-9-vs-windows.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
I use Dragon 8 and it's pretty amazing. Fifteen minutes of training and I'm well on my way. Which is not to say it doesn't make mistakes.
I remember using Microsoft Dictation several years back. It was a free download and let me tell you it worked pretty darn well even though it was a relatively small download (~ 20MB IIRC) & the hardware used was a Pentium-100 running 32 MB RAM. I can't imagine MS would come out with something so flawed after all these years when there have been mind-blowing advances in hardware and (presumably) software. Anyone with even a casual familiarity with voice recognition can tell that there's something terribly wrong with the MS demo setup. Given a few years, I'm sure they will put Dragon out of business. Wouldn't it be nice if they merged though. Five years down the line if these guys were to join forces, considering the kind of hardware that should be available then, we should have something close to perfect!
Written on 2/8/06 12:35 PM
I think Microsoft will come up with much better software than these Nuance rip off opportunists. Look at the price of the software??? >600 dollars??/ That's a rip off. MS will drive them bankrupt, no wonder.
Dr Ravi
Written on 3/9/06 3:37 PM
Sorry Bill, but give it up! Instead of trying to make Vista an 'ALL-IN-ONE", bloatware nothing, try just focusing on the core - a GOOD GUI system for once!
Microsoft needs to get rid of the PATCHWARE quilt they keep making (and bombing badly on)and FINALLY use GOOD programming methods from the FLOW CHART up, creating a decent operating system, with a minimal footprint and CPU loading.
Leave the 'perks' to the pros Billy!
I've been using Naturally Speaking for well over 8 years now and it works flawlessly for both medical transcription and general use. In fact it works SO well, our whole office staff uses it with avg. input around 110 words per minute.
So, Bill, in closing, instead of try to BURY, BUY OUT, or sue other GOOD, better software vendors, try BUYING LICENSING RIGHTS FROM THEM for once! Or better still, just let the consumer buy it with your recommendation.
Give us a decent op's system for a change, one released on time, not filled with security holes as big as China, and one that works the FIRST time AND DOESN'T require an immediate 40 gig, download update, just to work right!
That's my 2 cents worth!
Dr. Boshie Phd.
Written on 6/12/06 3:53 AM
It'll be interesting to compare between Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 and Windows Vista speech recognition. One way to compare in a scientific way would be for each user to dictate the "Rainbow Passage" with Dragon and with WSR using the same microphone with USB sound adaptor (if you use one of those) as input and measure percentage accuracy in each programme. For statistical soundness, repeat the dicatation say 3 times in each programme and measure the average. Here's the procedure I use:-
http://speechempoweredcomputing.co.uk/Newsletter/?p=69
Peter
www.speechempoweredcomputing.co.uk
Written on 24/12/06 11:08 PM
> send a Thank You note to 1, Redmond Way
The address is "1 Microsoft Way" smart guy. You using speech recognition S/W or something? :P
Written on 18/3/07 9:27 AM
I have just purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 9. The Manual says it will not work on Microsoft beyon XP. Do I need a patch? What is the deal?
maternadee@msn.com
Written on 28/4/07 7:33 PM
Don't bother with Vista Speech recognition.. I dictate over 5000 words a day, and found it to be useless - about 95% accurate, which is very poor when you have a lot to dictate.
Used Dragon 9 for 6 months previously, very quick learner and very accurate right from the get off.
Written on 10/5/07 12:05 AM
It maybe would give Dragon a boost if it had a product. But six months after I got Vista (29 November 2006) at last the international version has been released for Vista... but not for 64 bits Vista. How much longer will we have to wait?
Written on 11/5/07 4:04 PM
For Vista compatibility you need to register for the version 9.5 upgrade from support.nuance.com
Written on 21/9/07 6:11 AM
...
(In response to anyone who decides to complain about Windows Vista)
The core of an operating system is called the Kernel. This is how the operating system, memory, and CPU all communicate. With each new operating system (excluding Macintosh OS, since they seem to enjoy using the same kernel and only updating the interface) the kernel is updated. This allows for better stability of an operating system. (If you have a brand new computer, and got it from a company that doesn't load it with junk, Vista is quite stable, and handles application crashes quite well.) People don't seem to understand this concept, and view the operating system as a cursor on a screen. To get more customers to buy a new OS, the computer manufacture must change other parts of the OS. Microsoft went for the eye-candy route, but they also changed the overall configuration interface and other parts of the GUI to make it easier to learn how to use a computer, and make it easier for new computer users to use a computer.
Microsoft Dictation has certainly improved over the years. It works fine without training, but improves greatly with training (especially for recognizing your voice change for punctuation and non-dictation commands).
For the price of the Dragon software, I would rather just buy a new OS instead of pay for a price pretty darn close to it for one piece of software.
Integration argument:
"Patchwork" is a term that is greatly true. Yes, greatly, in all Operating systems.
You cant just make speech, write, solitaire, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer (or FireFox), Office, and whatever else you use into one single operating system. If one crashed, they all would. Imagine that... Solitaire crashes, and you loose your latest document, and you place on the internet. You just cant put it all together. Its going to be intergraded using the operating systems support, in Windows, it uses individualized running processes, services, and drivers, and startup processes.
"Bloatware"
Bloatware is when you start personally downloading stuff from the internet relentlessly. Microsoft Operating systems can only be called Bloatware because of their overall instalation size, which, compared to some other operating systems, isn't bad. Besides, even if your getting more CPU usage, its because you own a faster computer. If you want less taken resources:
Get a great paying job, and buy an expensive computer
Or, get Windows 3.11, the best and most stable operating system to this day.
Written on 23/10/07 5:26 AM
I have been evaluating Vista Speech Recognition, and Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9.5 for use with Bluetooth hands-free headsets for normal and technical dictation. I would much prefer to use the speech recognition that comes with Windows Vista, because of its tighter integration with the operating system. Unfortunately, I have not found a Bluetooth hands-free device that will work with Windows Vista. The accuracy is very low. Yet, the same devices work well with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That is what I'm using to write this comment. Dragon works well with both XP and Windows Vista. My only complaint, is that Dragon does not work with 64 bit operating systems. Should
Written on 2/12/07 2:07 PM