[MV] Re: Fwd: Voice Activation

[Chuck Rogers]

Damien (and everyone else):

Have you tried the latest version (1.6.8)? Charles Moore of  
AppleLinks called it "the best version yet." I have been traveling  
around doing presentations at the various Apple stores around the  
country, and quite often an existing customer or two will show up at  
a presentation. Here is what I have found out conclusively:

1). iListen can be every bit as accurate as NaturallySpeaking, it  
just takes longer to get it there.

2). The support we provide, as well as the responsiveness to  
customer's suggestions for new features (when technically possible)  
is by far and away superior to that provided by Dragon.

What was even surprising to me was the number of people who I have  
met that claim we are even better than Dragon! (Yes, they were avid  
Dragon users - at least two who I met actually switched to Mac  
BECAUSE of iListen!). I would not say these people are in the  
majority, by any means - but it confirms a basic tenant of speech  
recognition software: it is an intensely personal experience.

For example, you will still see reports from people who claim that  
ViaVoice is more accurate than iListen. All along, what we found  
amazing is that it was split at about 50-50. About 50% of those who  
used both programs found one INITIALLY more accurate than the other.  
Some of those who switched from ViaVoice to iListen are finding that  
over time, it becomes as accurate as ViaVoice, while others feel  
iListen is more accurate to begin with.

Here's the key: all speech recognition programs will get you accuracy  
in the high 90's - even as high as 99%. The difference is in the time  
you are willing to spend in training and performing Corrections in  
order to get there. To this extent, Dragon is the clear winner - but  
over time, it is no more or less accurate than iListen or ViaVoice in  
actual use.

Right now, we are concentrating on improving the user's experience  
with iListen by adding the most often-requested features and taking a  
hard look at how to make it a better Mac OS X program. I am not at  
liberty to disclose much at this time, but I can tell you that the  
next version will eliminate all support for Mac OS 9, which gives us  
some freedom to do a few different things immediately and opens up  
many opportunities for the future.


Best Regards,

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.