I despise buggy software. Dragon Dictate by Nuance

I have a copy of Nuance Dragon Dictate.

I am sick of buggy software, so I sent them a message.

I dictate a few lines and the product works reasonably well.

I then decide to run a 'check microphone'. You can't find the microphone.

So I go back and dictate a few swear words. It works. Your 'check microphone' still cant find the microphone.

Some research on your own database indicates that the problem has been around since at least version 11

Instead of bringing out new versions, how about YOU FIX THE DAMN KNOWN BUGS FIRST.

I hate insane software like this. I don't care for IT tech explanations or excuses.

If your software developers cannot see how utterly STUPID this makes them look then they should be looking for a new job.

Your company execs should be ashamed of themselves.

It is just pathetic, makes them look like they are still in kindergarten.

I eventually kicked my butt, danced like a fairy and put my head in the oven to solve the issue.

How utterly pathetic.

P

ETA. Mods, it is here rather than rant just in case anyone else has the same problem.

a reply to: pheonix358

I may on occasion talk to myself, but I will never talk to a computer.

They know too much already.

a reply to: intrptr

I am a writer so it is very useful especially considering that my eyesight is well below normal expectations.

If the NSA want to listen to me dictate a few chapters, then great, they can waste their time. Hell, they may even buy a copy. They should, my third book talks about all sorts of alphabet agencies and how to deal with them.

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a reply to: pheonix358

Buy the Book?

I looked into the Dragon / Nuance situation a few years ago. In the early days of Dragon it was a leader in speech recognition software. While there was some I could not verify, most of the investigation lead to Microsoft buying out Dragon and using their speech recognition software as part of the Windows Operating System. Due to branding, the name went off to Nuance as part of other redundant software that still feeds into the Microsoft business. Overall the Dragon product gives a few more functions over the standard windows recognition software, but it is now all based on the same engine.

As a tip, try and use a monotone voice in a quite place to get better results. If you do like using a lot of emotion and accent in your speech then spend a lot of time training the software.

They have been researching this kind of software for decades. You can either get a system that recognises a few words from everyone, or many words from a single person.

My last cable company once had such a system to automate payments. I once ended up trying to pay them $150,000 for a single month. Fortunately, it exceeded my credit card limit ...

Hey OP, just leaving you a sympathy post my man. I too have felt the wrath of Nuance software, and honestly I nearly gagged just by looking at your topic title. I've used their software once every 3-4 years since they came out with Naturally Speaking in the 90's, and honestly I haven't seen one version that worked very well. Also, whoever above me posted about it either picking up a few words for everyone, or a lot of words for one person were pretty much spot on. The only marginal (read: unacceptable level) success I've seen was when using the advanced trainer on ONE user (Dr. who used it for dictation), and even at that point it was more frustration than it was worth.

With Seri and the other voice recognition on an android phone I don't understand why this technology has not crossed over. If they can do it right in one area why not in all areas?

a reply to: Iamschist

It is not as easy as it seems. The software works reasonably well. It would depend on your typing speed and errors while typing to see if you want to use it.

I get my story down first and then do a first pass edit to get it right from a language point of view. Actually the system is very useful when editing.

My major point is that the software cannot find the microphone that it is using and that is just silly.

Bugs like this just show the software designers to be really stupid.

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originally posted by: parad0x122
Hey OP, just leaving you a sympathy post my man. I too have felt the wrath of Nuance software, and honestly I nearly gagged just by looking at your topic title. I've used their software once every 3-4 years since they came out with Naturally Speaking in the 90's, and honestly I haven't seen one version that worked very well. Also, whoever above me posted about it either picking up a few words for everyone, or a lot of words for one person were pretty much spot on. The only marginal (read: unacceptable level) success I've seen was when using the advanced trainer on ONE user (Dr. who used it for dictation), and even at that point it was more frustration than it was worth.

I tried it at around version 3 and laughed. Version 6 was not much better.

Version 12 is really quite good.

It is designed with a user profile per user so it is not supposed to just work for everyone.

I don't have a problem with that. It works well for me.

It is just that bugs should not transition from version 11 to version 13.

P