[MV] IBM ViaVoice 3 and 10.4.7

[Gavin Wynford-Jones]

Chuck,

Much as I support MacSpeech and iListen as a user, investor and  
evangelist, I feel there is still a very long way to go before it can  
be considered a serious challenger to Naturally Speaking, regardless  
of the platform. One fundamental issue is that of the software  
distinguishing correctly between commands and the words in the  
command. Dragon made sure that all commands were at least two words,  
MacSpeech took a different tack and allowed one word commands (my all- 
time bugbear is "paragraph" which is recognised as a command 100% of  
the time, even in the middle of a sentence, never as a word), without  
providing an easy method to customise, expand, alter, or delete  
anything in the command dictionary: I want to set it so that  
"paragraph" is never recognised as a command, "return" types the word  
rather than pressing the return key, and to be able to define "New  
paragraph" and "Press return key" as replacement commands.

Then I would probably never have to go into command mode ever again,  
because iListen would know the difference...

I love the fact that you've been able to do so much with so few  
resources, when IBM couldn't keep it going with al the money and  
people they have at their command. When people switch to an Intel  
Mac, they're probably going to look at Boot Camp plus DNS and some of  
them are going to go that route.

Gavin

On 1 Sep 2006, at 21:14, Chuck Rogers wrote:

> All:
>
> I'm sorry, but I really need to jump in here. I tried to keep my  
> mouth shut, but I just can't.
>
> Neither IBM or Nuance has any intention of modifying ViaVoice, and  
> I have yet to hear from anyone who can get it to work on an Intel  
> Mac. The last update of ViaVoice was April of 2003 - over 3 years ago!
>
> Meanwhile, we have been busting our arses for the past 6 years and,  
> by all accounts have (some time ago, actually) finally surpassed  
> ViaVoice in accuracy - we were ALWAYS better in terms of command  
> and control. Since April of 2003 we have issued multiple updates  
> AND kept up with changes in the Mac OS. If you accept the fact that  
> speech recognition is also more prone to issues than any other type  
> of software you are likely to use on your computer, our set up and  
> use is also relatively hassle-free in comparison to ViaVoice.
>
> I really appreciate the fact that many of you have established  
> profiles in ViaVoice, I really do. But even NY Times Columnist  
> David Pogue - who is an avid NatruallySpeaking fanatic - reported  
> (in the NY Times) that he was able to get almost 96 percent  
> accuracy after using the latest version for only 30 minutes!
>
> So, let me ask: what is it going to take to get y'all to switch to  
> the ONLY speech recognition software that is GUARANTEED to work on  
> current Macs, from a company that continues to develop and support  
> it? Let me know, and I will do my best to provide it if it is at  
> all in my power. (Keep in mind that at some point, you will have to  
> switch anyway - when you get an Intel Mac).
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
> MacSpeech, Inc.