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Thread ID: 21546	2002-06-28 10:21:00	Finding a program	tones_malones (611)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
58036	2002-06-28 10:21:00	I have this bet with my father, he is computer illiterate, but wants to learn. He believes that he would use a computer if he could "speak to it and it do it for him" is there such a program, i'm sure there is. I just can't think of an appropriate keyword to search for. He basically wants it so he can just say "e-mail" and it open up something like Outlook and do it for him. Any suggestions would be great, or am i asking too much? Cheers Tones PS:Robo and the team the new site is great!	tones_malones (611)
58037	2002-06-28 10:30:00	You could try Dragon Naturally Speaking, and I think IBM has a product too.	Dragonslayer (512)
58038	2002-06-28 10:30:00	You are looking for speech recognition. Unfortunately, speech recognition is not advanced enough, and is fairly frustrating to use due to it's inaccuracy. I have used it with MS Office XP - gave up after I spent more time configuring it, and fixing the mistakes it made than I sved by typing by hand (which I am fairly fast anyway). Sorry, but you'll have to wait awhile before your fathers wish is a practical reality. G P	Graham Petrie (449)
58039	2002-06-28 10:31:00	Hi Tones Dragon Naturally Speaking is one. Try searching with voice activation. You'll need a reasonabely speedy processor and plenty of ram to get the best out of such a program. Theres still a lot of develpment work to be done on the software to get accurate results I believe. HTH Murray P	Murray P (44)
58040	2002-06-28 10:34:00	Yes, Dargon Naturally Speaking is a speech recognition app. It works, but again, it is not practical for someone who just wants to bark at their computer, it is best used in conjunction with keys and a mouse, and it is definately NOT a substitute for either of these. I reiterate, speech recognition is not yet a practical reality (and a decent mic will set you back $130 plus at least the same again for some decent software. G P	Graham Petrie (449)
58041	2002-06-28 10:50:00	I have downloaded a few as Trial copies, to test etc Uninstalled them all eventually. I don't think they liked my Yorkshire accent. I agree, tho, that there is a lot more development to be done. What would I like? Easy. A HAL computer as seen on the Space Odessy 2000 series. But not in my lifetime I suspect. Poppa John :^O	Poppa John (284)
58042	2002-06-28 11:28:00	i have used Via Voice not too bad but needs to be trained to achieve accuracy funnt to see what you say coming up on the screen along with some hilarious interpretations that are really funny as speech recognition as in star trek is at least 10 years away when PCs as we know them will have changed beyond recoginition both in size and power look at the IBM XT compared to todays cpus with over 2 gigahertz processing power that still run similar programs just with more bells and whistles our biggest problem is the software is becoming overbloated and full of bugs the hardware side is getting way ahead of the programmers ability to keep up , killer applications such as Peer to peer started with napster then kazaa which resulted in a surge of interest in broadband and the sale of cdrw burners much to the horror of the music and movie mogals etc	kiwibeat (304)
58043	2002-06-28 12:53:00	I have used Dragon Naturally within Wordperfect (2 versions back) and have been very impressed with it. Ok it takes time to train it but it is worth doing properly. The sound card makes more difference than an expensive mic as my mic was only about $40. Having said that I don't think your father would have much success.	mikebartnz (21)
58044	2002-06-28 21:29:00	I remember talking to a blind guy once and he was telling me about his computer that spoke to him and he spoke back to it. From memory it was organised by the Blind Foundation and I don't think to set up was cheap. I have used office XP that has speech recognition but found it difficult to use.	sam m (517)
58045	2002-06-28 23:55:00	thanks for all your responses...dad informed me last night that a HAL computer would do him just great :) cheers all tones	tones_malones (611)
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