[MV] Re: Panther, ViaVoice & iListen

[Martin Markoe]

Erica,

Thank you for the extensive reply. It would be nice if iListen had the
accuracy of ViaVoice.

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: MacVoice, Speech Recognition List
[mailto:MacVoice at lists.themacintoshguy.com]On Behalf Of Erika Mackenzie
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:40 AM
To: MacVoice, Speech Recognition List
Subject: [MV] Re: Panther, ViaVoice & iListen


| If expecting a reply, please read my signature. |


Martin Markoe spake thus:


>Erica,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>I would rather support a small, Mac-focussed company than a behemoth like
>IBM any day
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>Do know the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, as it may come
true?"

Indeed I do.
>
>Large companies often have resources that smaller companies do not.
Although
>smaller companies may be more innovative they do not have the manpower or
>money to pull off innovative software/hardware development.

I have always assumed that that was the reason for the far more polished and
'professional' package which was ViaVoice.

> I suggest you look at all sides of an issue before making a judgment.

I expressed a preference, and an ethical preferenc at that; not the same
thing as making a judgement. The reason I purchased ViaVoice instead of
iListen was that iListen was not available for OS X and ViaVoice was.
Disabled as I was, I couldn't afford to wait. Now I will have to fork out
again, this time for iListen, as the tables have turned. I just hope that by
the time I am able to afford it, It will have improved to the extent that
using it won't drive me barmy as it did before.

I purchased ViaVoice almost as soon as it came out for MacOS X, and used it
for a long time, and still prefer it to iListen in many ways (most ways, in
fact). I don't use it any more, as it will no longer install and run on my
machine, despite patches and endless tech support. I used iListen for a
while on someone else's computer, but I don't have a copy. I liked the way I
could use SpeakPad in ViaVoice as a scratchpad -
edit...change...delete...cut and paste...rewrite bits...start all over again
etc. without having to think about how to get the programme to 'recognise'
and keep up with my thought processes as I composed. ViaVoice handled it all
without a glitch, and without all that text-scrambling, 'Commit Corrections'
(ummm...should I or shouldn't I?) and complexity which iListen was prone
to - I feel that dictating *and correcting* in any application (for ViaVoice
could always dictate into any application) has come at far too high a price
(and this is something of an illusion any
way; one does not correct in any application, but in the 'correction
window'). In contrast to ViaVoice and SpeakPad, editing and altering wording
in iListen with the correction window was such a pain that I just never
bothered to use the correction window while I had access to it. I did not
like ViaVoice's slowness and its massive demands on my computer's RAM and
processor; iListen is much nippier and didn't eat into RAM and VM. Nor do I
(or rather did I) like ViaVoive's precarious 'poor relation' status compared
with the MSWindows version (and of course its current 'orphaned' status
makes it a complete dead end). Nevertheless, I stand by what I say, taken as
an isolated statement; I *would* rather support a small, dedicated,
Mac-focussed company than a behemoth like IBM. The unwritten subtext should
have been: "I just wish I liked their product as much as I liked IBM's".

best,

Erica Mackenzie
QLD, AUSTRALIA

n.b. I suffer from a neurological auto-immune disorder which sometimes
prevents me from using my computer for extended periods of time. I will get
back to you when I can, if I can. Awl arrows of grammar, punctuation ,
spieling and  suchlike can hand shooed be blamed without exception own my
speech-recognition/dictation soft wear <g>.

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