About 10 months ago we reviewed version 7.3 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

We were quite impressed with the package even though it struggled with my curious mix of Dutch, American and Australian accents.

When ScanSoft announced that the new version would have a much improved accuracy rate I was keen to try this one out.

We reviewed the Preferred Edition which includes all the features that the Standard Edition has but also works with Microsoft Excel, has voice playback, correction and proofing. DNS8 will insert your signature, logo or boilerplate text in a file with a simple voice command and includes ScanSoft RealSpeak for turning text into human sounding synthesised speech. 

And of course, it can import and convert recordings from Palm handhelds as well as Pocket PCs and other digital recorders.

I thought it best to go through the training all over again with the aim of getting the accuracy as high as possible.

The initial training exercise still had trouble with my peculiar accent.  There were some reading sections that I had to skip as the computer would not recognise that.  When the initial speech recognition was finished the program assimilated all the data and checked the My Documents folder as well as the Inbox for my word usage.

Before I started dictating for real I elected to go and do another training exercise.  This time, the program recognised everything I said.

I was also impressed with the command handling.  In other words, if you wanted to go to the end of a sentence, or select a certain word for editing, there was no hesitation but a correct execution. “Your word is my command”…

The only trouble I had was when I wanted to spell out or describe a command. It would execute the command instead…

Most high-end software needs activation and for good reason. 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is no exception.  Except perhaps in how it is done.

I had chosen to activate manually.  The reason is that this software was going to be installed on my new powerhouse which I’d chosen to be without an Internet connection.

This is the machine that hopefully does not get contaminated with viruses. 

Activation is best done automatically but in a case like this you have to do it manually.

You still need access to an Internet connected machine and copy the serial number and machine fingerprint to generate the activation key. 

This is where it gets ridiculous.  The activation key consists of 15 fields, all of them four digits long...

Hopefully, you know how to distinguish between zeros and O’s!

I have no doubt that if you speak without too much of an accent the accuracy rate of version 8 is extremely high.  With my foreigner’s handicap it still is very high with the more difficult words or technical jargon.  The most problems I encountered with the really simple words.  I had great difficulties with words like "new", "our" and "who".

Another simple word like "logo" translates into" little girl"...

It's good for a laugh at times but the system really does learn your idiosyncrasies over time. And, you learn how to work with the system.  For instance, I found it easier and faster to select certain words for correction by using the mouse to highlight the word and then speak the replacement word.

Here are in the main ones (for the key points of our earlier review please go to the March 11 review): 

• DNS8’s improved speech engine is 20% more accurate than in version 7 through expanded language models and improved acoustic training techniques.

• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is especially aimed at enterprise users as it makes your user files available anywhere on the network through its Roaming User feature, and automatically synchronizes updates and adaptations centrally .With Multiple Dictation Sources you can use a single vocabulary for your microphone and handheld recorder user files (Professional Edition only).

• The new version is simpler to use than ever before. There are improvements in the area of date formatting, measurements and acronyms.

• Particularly for advanced users there are many more enhancements with Structured Commands and vocabulary customisation.

I am thinking of the two "natural" main categories: people who dictate a lot, such as lawyers, doctors, specialists and who spend a lot of time transcribing their ramblings.

The other category would consist of people who have trouble with manual inputs because of RSI or arthritis and the like.

There are, of course, also heaps of other folks who will benefit from using DNS8.

You may be interested in improving your typing speed but have hit your natural limit inherent to two-finger typing. Or even if you type with 10 fingers you will find some dramatic improvement when using this program.

There is one proviso: you must be comfortable dictating. Not everyone is that.  Particularly if you are in an open office environment this may be a problem.  Not so much for the program because it will filter out all the background noise but it can't do anything about your self-consciousness.

In the beginning you may have to say quite a few times: "scratch that" and retry.

Once you are past that initial embarrassment you and your new best friend will get along just fine…

• This version is about as accurate as today’s technology allows, given the intricacies of the English language with its multiplicity of accents.

• It will work with all your favourite programs which you can also launch and manage with DNS8.

• It works also away from your desktop when you're dictating to just about any handheld recorder or Pocket PC.

• It doesn't take long for ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking to get you productive: a few minutes if you're clear spoken or a bit longer if you have trouble enunciating clearly.

• With voice commands where you can insert whole blocks of text and graphics and custom vocabularies, you will save heaps of time.

• You can browse the Web and navigate web pages all by voice.

• Less strain on your wrists or from uncomfortable typing postures.

• And finally, security and comfort in knowing that DNS8 is simply the best in speech recognition software as evidenced by the many awards and licenses sold.

Are there any negatives?

It's not perfect (yet) and there is a fairly steep learning curve.  If you couple that with the fairly expensive acquisition price (AUD400) and the need for some decent hardware, then you will realise that this program is not for everyone.  But, at the same time, it is for many more people than is generally assumed.

I have no hesitation to recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 8.  It is a godsend for people who have problems with manual inputs such as folks with arthritis or RSI.

And people who dictate a lot and are comfortable doing so will find DNS8 an amazing tool.  After the initial rather steep learning curve with such a powerful program you will never want to go back to keyboarding.  The potential to save a lot of time is there right from the start and will only increase over time.

PS  --This review was of course written by “Dragon dictation”.  Just some minor editing with keyboard and mouse was needed.

Note: the good folks from ScanSoft’s PR company also sent me a copy of PaperPort 10 Professional, a powerful document management and scanning program, which allows you to create and annotate PDF files. We hope to bring an overview of this program in the near future.