Enter the Dragon, Naturally Speaking by Thomas Walton
No other voice recognition software has brought technology closer to the user than Dragon, Naturally Speaking. Rather than bring the user to his knees before another demanding technology, Dragon has come to the user in a more natural interface, allowing the user to issue commands, dictate text into any document, search the web, read and send e-mails, and ask for help at any time while using Dragon. Dragon follows the user’s commands (and Dragon can learn from the user’s input–which I’ll cover shortly).
When you speak, Dragon listens; When you issue a command, Dragon jumps!
Dictating to Your Computer is as Natural as Speaking
Business owners will find Dragon’s dictating features absolutely priceless. For one thing, you can now take your own notes and type your own business letters by speaking to your computer the same way you’d speak to a secretary. Writing your own letters no longer requires you to spend hours at your keyboard because Dragon does all the typing and formatting while you talk (Although, you will still need to manually refill your printer paper from time to time). In fact, Dragon is up to three times faster than your secretary can type.
Dragon isn’t just for business owners, but for all walks of life. Writers, for example, will find dictating to their computer to be more natural than typing on a keyboard. Writing dialogue, story plots, brilliant headlines, and business/ technical documentation is done more quickly with Dragon’s speech recognition software. Dragon even learns from the user’s input.
In order to teach Dragon something, the user need only open the Accuracy Center and add a word to Dragon’s vocabulary. The user can also add an entire list of words to Dragon, or run an optimizer to increase the accuracy of Dragon.
Where Dragon is Most Useful
I've highlighted some of the areas where I found Dragon to be most useful:
- Web browsing
- Applications
- Writing long documents
Web Browsing
When first using Dragon, my doubt was that Dragon might type something I didn't say into the search engine, or activate some control that I didn't intend to use. However, my fear was needless, and Dragon was a flawless typist. Honestly, my web browsing has been far easier (and more natural) using Dragon than it ever was using a keyboard. For one thing, I no longer have to worry about clicking the wrong web navigation button by accident (Good-bye dreadful BACK button!). Now I have a free hand for my coffee mug.
I think we've all had the misfortunate experience of hitting the back button in the middle of filling out information on a web form, only to discover that we have to restart the whole process of filling out the form over again. This is a bad thing to have happen, especially if you have spent a good deal of time filling out the form manually with your keyboard. The best part about using Dragon for web browsing is that you avoid typos by not using your keyboard (And Dragon is a good speller, so you don't have to haggle for a dictionary every time you want to look something up on the internet).
Surfing the web is a no-brainer with Dragon. You don't have to learn a new language or technical jargon to get started. Just learn a few simple command words, and you're set for basic web surfing and reading your e-mails.
Applications
Applications... There comes a limit to what you can say to Dragon, especially with applications. Users can open any application as long as the user says the entire name of the application. Here's an example of what works:
"Open Word Perfect Nine." (Opens WordPerfect version 9)
What won't work is if the user says something like this:
"Open Word Perfect."
Probably one of the more useful methods of accessing files, folders, and applications is the Start menu command ("Open Start menu"). By verbally addressing the Start menu, the user can access useful maintenance features on the computer, like System Tools. The benefit of using Dragon to access these tools is that you are less likely to click on the wrong tool or execute the wrong command (clicking through all those folders with a mouse has a tendency to err).
Writing Long Documents
Writing long documents by normal means (using a keyboard) is tedious. This is particularly the case with reformatting. There are a couple of things Dragon does to simplify the task for writing anything longer than twenty pages. For one, Dragon does all the typing. That's a big relief on the fingers, especially since Dragon doesn't misspell. The other thing Dragon can do is add the necessary punctuation as you speak. At first thought this may not seem like a lot of help, but as you find yourself stopping in the middle of dictation to go back and insert commas, you'll begin to appreciate the automatic punctuation feature.
Learning the Dragon Interface
Let me first tell you what Dragon is not. Dragon isn't a bulky clunk of an application with extraneous training required to use it. In fact, you can start dictating as soon as you install the software (and register the product). Dragon lets you learn new features at your own leisure. When you're ready, you can activate the training feature to unlock the more sophisticated side of Dragon's configuration capabilities.
Overall Opinion of Dragon, Naturally Speaking
I think that we all have seen or at least heard of the old Star Trek television series. Most of us probably laughed when Captain Kirk addressed the ship's computer verbally. Now, the science fiction of computer voice recognition is reality (You don't know it yet, but you're going to love talking to your computer).
With Dragon I'm able to trust the accuracy of my typing, and give my fingers a break from the keyboard. Whether you're working or just browsing the internet, Dragon makes the connection between the computer and the user more intimate. The work gets done faster while minimizing errors, typos, and general frustration with the computer.
Isn't it about time computers worked on our own terms? The choice is yours... be constrained to typing on your keyboard, or go where no man has gone before. I recommend Dragon, Naturally Speaking, to anyone who spends a good deal of time at the computer keyboard.
