That has now changed enormously. This was at the hardware development, but also the performance of the software improved impressively. With version 8 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking I got back and started the speech recognition for some tasks productive use, such as for translations. Since then I have worked with every new release that there were approximately every two years. Basically, I am skeptical of manufacturer announcements of new versions of software improvements, could not imagine how they wanted to further increase the detection power either. But the Dragon developers earned every time my admiration: With each version, the voice recognition was noticeably better and the latest version 11 delivers good results so that I can think of to use them for creative writing. So far I have avoided that because in formulating new texts there is much on-and-forth, modify, adapt, insertion and deletion. The software brings not so much in productivity as in the case of translations, when transcribing from handwritten notes or routine reports. Current hardware is, however, always provided and the new version I've just installed on a new PC (Windows 7, Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM).
When I decided about six years ago with version 8 for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I tested other software and found performance comparable. At that time I opted for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, because only this software made it possible to switch between two languages (in my case, English and German) by simply umschaltete between two user profiles. Whether this argument still applies, I have since not checked. Also I have not watched the competition.
A demonstration of my speech recognition I sometimes deliver secretly grin when friends or colleagues want partout chat via Skype with me, rather than access to the headset and easy and effortless to talk with me. During the period in which they peppered their chop chore abbreviation and misspelled texts in the keyboard, I formulate long sentences in response, with multiples scope and error-free. I then harvest admiration for my write speed - if I do not give myself known as Dragon-user.
(Of course I have dictated this review.)
Addendum: 5:10:10: Only drawback are some system messages that obviously do not match the current user interface. Either I made an installation error or the developers have sloppy!
Dr. Philipp Grieb, IT editors, Taufkirchen
