Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11

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fredtgreco

fredtgreco

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I just received my copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 this evening. It appears to work very well, better than even Dragon 10, which was pretty good. I'm hoping that I can use the speech recognition software more and more for my work. As a matter fact, I'm dictating this post right now.

As I get older, I realize more and more that my hands hurt after a long day of typing. It is amazing to me how much speech recognition software has improved since the early days.

Is anyone else on the Puritan board using Dragon? Did anyone else order version 11?
 
I've been using Dragon Professional 10. My wife uses it exclusively because she has a bad case of RSS.

She has a love/hate relationship with it because it tends to degrade for her over time.

I've had a similar experience, but, for me, I have no problem starting a new profile and importing my vocabulary. For me it works pretty well. I use it to write briefs, lists, notes on evidence review, etc. I use it a lot to transcribe digital dictation on a small recorder--but if I want to do it while driving I have to use a directional microphone--otherwise the background sound reduces accuracy.

But one thing I am very careful about is proofreading. Proofreading a Dragon document is different from a regular document because there is never a mispelling. But there often are mis-heard words. Some of them can be hilarious but embarrassing. Things like you want it to say, "Plaintiff then heard the squeeling brakes" and Dragon typing "Plaintiff hurt the squeeling breaks."

As you improve its recognition, the errors decrease, but that just means you have to look even harder while proofreading.

I haven't been tempted by version 11 mainly because I've heard that the Pro version isn't really worth the upgrade, especially if you have been tweaking user files and cleaning up corrupted correction files periodically as I have been doing.
 
I had 10 Preferred. The upgrade to 11 Premium (its equivalent) was only $99. I totally "here" you on the funny typos!
 
That sounds reasonable. The upgrade for the Pro version is around $300 for very little in the way of new features.

I chose the professional version a couple of years ago because of the Macro functions and ability to import/export commands. It was mainly so my wife could use all functions on her computer without typing. It only sort of worked out that way.

I use all the advanced features from time to time, but I don't think they are really necessary for most writing if you are able to type at all. Most people would do fine to save money and go with preferred, especially the latest version.
 
Thanks for the endorsement Fred, my younger friend. I hope I won't need to eventually completely go to dictation but if my left central vision gives way then this will be a good way to continue to translate my spoken words into text.
 
Pergamum said:
Interesting, do you have a link to where to buy this?
Click to expand...

This link should work. What should pop up is an offer for $199 for Dragon 11 and a bluetooth microphone. If you click "no thanks" it takes you to the $99 price with a wired microphone. I happen to have the bluetooth (Calisto - I got it with Dragon 10) and it works well. But I think you could use a bluetooth head set as well (I have tried it with my Jawbone).
 
Perg, the Nuance website is here:

Nuance - Dragon NaturallySpeaking Speech Recognition Software

I purchased my Pro version through KnowBrainer at a discount a couple of years ago:

https://www.knowbrainer.com/ShopOnline/index.cfm?

In any event, I heartily recommend taking a couple hours looking over the KnowBrainer forum to get a feel for how people tweak and adjust their systems. The thing about Dragon NaturallySpeaking is that it is impressive out of the box, and then, as people get used to it they find annoyances that they get tired of dealing with.

If you are diligent about learning the basics of the system, it is very useful--Even with the latest versions the learning curve is sort of deceptive. It starts out shallow and then increases somewhat steeply.

The other key, and this is very important, make sure you have a computer with plenty of memory and horsepower. If you are running a computer with the minimum system requirements listed, you will get very frustrated with the program after a few weeks. That is because it builds a database as you work with it and increasingly taxes resource-shy systems.
 
I use the speech dictation function on Windows Vista from time to time. However, I find that when I dictate to my computer, I babble and ramble. Consequently, I have to do a lot of work to clean up my sloppy thoughts.

Nevertheless, how does Dragon compare to the Vista program? Is there a similar program with Windows 7?
 
Tim said:
Nevertheless, how does Dragon compare to the Vista program? Is there a similar program with Windows 7?
Click to expand...

I had the opportunity to try out the Vista program on a demo machine. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is probably two generations ahead of Microsoft. But MS has a lot of resources and is doing a fair job catching up.

There is an improved speech recognition engine included with Windows 7. I haven't tried it out because I have Dragon already.
 
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