[MV] Where are we now?

[Chuck Rogers]

Bert (and everyone else):

When we came out with version 1.1 of iListen (the first version to 
include Correction), the consensus was 50-50. About 50% of the people 
who had tried both programs got as good or better results with iListen, 
while 50% still felt ViaVoice was more accurate.

With each version of the product since (it is now at 1.6.5) we have 
improved many facets of the program to the point that the majority now 
believe iListen is "as good or better" than ViaVoice. There are still 
those who will get overwhelmingly better results while dictating using 
one or the other. This is due to primarily to the differences in the 
base voice models between the two programs. In short, if your voice 
sounds more like the base voice model employed by iListen for your 
gender, you will have a better "out of the box" experience with it over 
ViaVoice (and vice versa). But over time, employing Correction on a 
consistent basis should, in the vast majority of cases, negate any 
initial differences.

The larger question is whether you want to support a product that has 
had absolutely no development on it for almost two years, and whose 
product is difficult to install and get up and running for some people 
on the current version of the OS? Or would you prefer to support a 
company who has remained dedicated to making sure the product works on 
the Mac OS and continues to improve it with each release.

I will make no pretense here. We are a small company, but we have been 
around since 1999. Speech recognition on the Mac is the only thing we 
do. Unlike IBM we can't afford to discontinue development of all speech 
related products for consumers (as they did in April of 2003). More 
importantly, each and every sale is important to us, and it is equally 
important that each user have a satisfying experience with our product.

Are 100% of our customers satisfied? No. There are those who, for one 
reason or another, can not (or are not ready to) use speech 
recognition. We have many customers who purchased a few years ago, put 
the product on the shelf as "not ready for prime time" and recently 
upgraded it and are extremely happy with the results they are getting. 
Naturally, there are those who want it to be better still, and we will 
keep working at it until we meet their standards as well.

I just wanted to throw my two cents in here and tell you we'd really 
like to have you as a customer, and we will try hard to make sure 
things work for you.


Best Regards,

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.

On Nov 6, 2004, at 12:19 AM, Bert Pepper wrote:

> I gave up on both iListen and Via Voice about 3 years ago; neither was 
> useful for me for dictating reports. I went back to word processing by 
> kbd and using a secretary.
>
> I've just read a bunch of posts to catch up on recent developments, 
> and this list has been very helpful.
>
> I'm on a G4 dual 500, and an iBook G3, using OS 10.3.5, soon to be 
> 10.3.6
>
> As I understand status of the field now, ViaVoice works on 10.3, but 
> will not be upgraded.
> iListen is being improved, and is probably much better than it was 
> when I quit it. So, I'm inclined to go with iListen... but several 
> posts indicated that ViaVoice is still better for dictation.
>
> Since threads on this topic ran a few months ago, I'm hoping that my 
> request for an update won't be offensive. Perhaps other dedicated 
> MacHeads who want to dictate will learn with me from those list 
> members who are kind enough to share recent experiences.
>
> bertpepper at mac.com
>
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