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>
> I currently own DragonDictate 3.0 and NaturallySpeaking Personal edition
> 1.0. I want the ability to dictate continuously into any Windows
> application. I'm currently trying to evaluate the differences between
> DragonDictate and NaturallySpeaking Preferred edition vs. NaturallySpeaking
> Deluxe edition. I have spoken with Dragon representatives in sales,
> customer support, and technical support, but none of them could even
> understand (much less answer) the question I was asking.
>
> Basically, I want to find out how much of DragonDictate 3.0 command and
> control and macro capability exists in NaturallySpeaking Deluxe Edition.
> With DragonDictate and NaturallySpeaking Personal, I can run the entire
> computer, start applications, change Windows, and so forth with discrete
> speech. I can then switch to NaturallySpeaking, and dictate continuously.
>
> If I started with a new computer with only NaturallySpeaking Deluxe Edition
> installed, how much of this functionality could I still have? I am aware
> that NaturallySpeaking Deluxe includes a copy of DragonDictate, but that is
> not what I'm asking about. Does NaturallySpeaking Deluxe allow me to
> create arbitrary macros for all applications like DragonDictate does? If
> so, does NaturallySpeaking Deluxe recognize those new macros during
> continuous speech?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Barry
I sent a message to the group late last week about the macro
capabilities of the Deluxe edition of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You
should be able to find it in the archives within a few days, or quoted
in some of today's postings. In brief, the main things missing are the
SetHomeGroup command and the listen from group command, since there are
no groups in NaturallySpeaking. Some, but not all, of the things which
you could do with groups can be done by making macros specific to a
particular application and window title (see my previous email to the
group this morning for details).
As far as general command and control is concerned, there are a lot of
things which NaturallySpeaking can do, but which require you to write
macros which would have been predefined in DragonDictate (for example,
the tab-key and enter key to maneuver through dialog boxes and help
files, a page down and page up command, etc.) There are also a number of
other things which you do not appear to be able to do. For example,
while NaturallySpeaking appears to track menus in most applications, I
could not get it to recognize items in the start menu, or buttons in the
save as dialog box of Word 95. I also don't know if it will track
things in Office 97 properly, since I don't have Office 97. Finally,
while the natural text utility allows dictation into most Windows
applications, the facilities for correction by voice are much greater
than those of DragonDictate, and natural text doesn't work in dialog
boxes of the NaturallySpeaking window, so you still need DragonDictate
to do that (or the many tips which someone else posted to the list last
week.) You should also note that this is by no means a complete catalog
of things which NaturallySpeaking can't do, just the once I have come
across and remembered.
In summary, those of us who still need to operate our computers
hands-free, or nearly so, will still need to switch back forth between
NaturallySpeaking and DragonDictate, despite the fact that the Deluxe
edition of NaturallySpeaking takes a big step towards providing the
functionality of DragonDictate in a continuous speech product.
David Fox
davidfox@@fas.harvard.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don't want to
reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don't want to infuriate
them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise). No dragon can resist
the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to
understand it.
--- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
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