On the Parallels side, the problem is simple and one would think fixable: Parallels just can’t keep track of the microphone. Every time I quit and relaunch Parallels, I have to completely reconfigure the microphone in both MacOS X and in the virtual machine. Parallels simply is not able to remember its microphone settings. Here’s a hint for version 7: microphones aren’t disk drives. Don’t make me configure sound input or output or assign USB devices to the host or guest operating systems. Treat audio devices like the network ports where it just works without me having to think about it.

On the NaturallySpeaking side, the problems are virtually everything except speech recognition, and that’s more than you might think. Many of the issues with NaturallySpeaking are problems that PowerSecretary had resolved over 15 years ago on 100 MHz PowerBooks. For example, I shouldn’t have to keep correcting “parallels six” to “Parallels 6″. After I’ve used that phrase once or twice, the speech recognition program should learn it and recognize it and not bother me about it again. But instead I have to keep correcting it and correcting it and correcting it every single time. NaturallySpeaking does not learn from its mistakes. It has some sort of training mode that is a complete waste of time. There is no reason for this to be separate from the normal dictation process. I should not have to think about which words I’m going to use in an article and carefully train them before dictating. NaturallySpeaking should simply learn from the corrections I make in the process of dictation.

Secondly, NaturallySpeaking does not integrate well with the Windows operating system. It works better in some programs than others, but its ability to navigate and select text in a document ranges from poor to abominable. In Firefox, it’s manageable. It’s often off by character or two, but usually it puts the insertion point somewhere close to where it should be. In Chrome, it simply doesn’t work at all. Even in relatively well supported programs like Firefox and Microsoft Word, the cursor placement is still not nearly accurate enough to use for editing. NaturallySpeaking is adequate for dictating a first draft when your RSI is flaring up, but the second draft has to be typed by hand.

There are other aspects of the recognition that Nuance really needs to do a better job with. For example, the phrase “go to end of line” is one of the recognized commands, except half the time when NaturallySpeaking recognizes it as “code to end of line” and inserts the text that you now have to delete and then repeat the command. Other commands such as “delete previous word” and “correct that” are also frequently misrecognized. Most annoying is when Nuance correctly recognizes the command but merely inserts the text rather than performing the requested action. Unlike free-form text recognition, recognizing commands, even in the middle of free-form text, is really easy. Systems with a lot less CPU power than my virtual machine do this all the time and have for a couple of decades now. There is no reason NaturallySpeaking should ever get these commands wrong.

There are also times when NaturallySpeaking recognizes a command that isn’t there. This doesn’t happen with built-in commands such as “go to end of line” but rather when it’s trying to interpret words I’m speaking as references to links on the screen. For instance, earlier while I was dictating this post, NaturallySpeaking attempted to move it into the trash because it misinterpreted the word “to” as a command to go to the link on the page “Move to Trash” and as I was dictating this very sentence it did it again.

Yes, I know there are a series of confusing and misleading options hiding in the preferences to turn some of this functionality off. Half of them shouldn’t be options in the first place. The other half should have the opposite of the defaults they do. This reeks of a classic Windows user interface design where features are thrown into the program and rubbed in the face of the user just to show how clever the developers are. Nuance still hasn’t learned the lesson that simplicity is power, that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, and that a program should simply do the right thing rather than asking the user whether they want to do the right thing or the wrong thing.

The bottom line is that Nuance has over-emphasized the purely algorithmic speech recognizer, while not adequately addressing the failures of its user interface. The actual recognition of words within Dragon NaturallySpeaking is pretty good and has been for several versions now. However, the user interface remains atrocious. There is colossal room for improvement left in this product without touching the actual recognition engine. Unfortunately, I see little to no evidence that Nuance knows that or cares about it. If you look at the release notes for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11, there’s a list of features and the usual promise of increased recognition accuracy but nothing about accurate cursor placement, universal application support, real-time training from the actual text that’s dictated, or properly distinguishing between commands and spoken text.

One other thing I’m trying, is to run Dragon NaturallySpeaking in Parallels 5 on my Mac. Parallels 5 is a little faster than VMWare Fusion was, and is actually usable on my MacBook for basic web surfing and other simple operations. However, I’m skeptical of its ability to run CPU intensive applications like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and FPS games. I am considering upgrading my Mac to either one of the new MacBook Pros or perhaps a Mac Pro if Apple ever gets around to releasing new models.

Annoyingly though, both Dragon and Windows want to be reactivated in the Parallels VM. Dragon didn’t seem to have a major problem with this — it was just a single button click — but Windows got completely confused, and wouldn’t even let me buy a new license. What’s the point of activation anyway if Microsoft won’t even sell you the software? Possibly I should just try to reimport my entire Windows PC directly into the Parallels VM instead of converting the VMware Fusion VM. I have expected the original VMware Fusion VM that I imported from my actual PC to require reactivation but for some reason it didn’t. all this Windows activation and deactivation and reactivation is a colossal hassle and a strong reason to prefer Macs in the first place. If only there were decent speech recognition software on the Mac. In fact, if only there were decent speech recognition on some platform. Dragon’s great when it works but I haven’t been able to make it work for more than 30 minutes for months.

I’ve also ordered a Logitech air mouse which some folks report has dramatically improved their wrist pain. Despite years of searching I’ve never been able to find a truly comfortable combination of desk and chair configuration that really allows me to mouse and type comfortably. I do think I’m going to splurge on a Herman Miller Embody Chair in the very near future. however, a decent desk is even harder to find. If there’s one out there that’s any good, I’ve never seen it. I suspect what I need may be some system that allows me to adjust the keyboard, mouse platform, and monitor surfaces independently including both height and tilt. Unfortunately all the desks I’ve ever seen that even attempt this are incredibly flimsy and bounce with even like typing or motion. I want to be able to move the keyboard tray and a very large mouse tray around almost arbitrarily while firmly locking them into position.

Even the high-end manufacturers like Anthro have the problem that they don’t really have any show rooms or on-site support. You’re supposed to order multi-thousand dollar desks from a catalog or website without actually trying them out in the show room, assemble it yourself, and then, if you don’t like it, disassemble it and send it all back. I would absolutely pay several thousand dollars for a desk I was really comfortable with, but I’m still hesitant to pay that much for something that may or may not work.

In any case, I’ve now gotten to the end of this random blog post without Dragon NaturallySpeaking crashing and burning on me, so I guess I’ll just keep using it until it does and then see what happens.

If someone cracked Windows 7 activation so I could use it on multiple machines, maybe I could bring myself to pay the $250+ Microsoft wants for a copy; but as is I’ll just do without. Looks like someone’s selling old copies of Vista Home Basic for $99 and Ultimate for $135. Maybe I’ll grab one of those. XP costs $90-300 if you can even find a copy.

Checking prices on Amazon today, Windows 7 Professional retails for about $250 and Windows 7 Ultimate costs around $300. Even an upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate costs almost $200. By way of contrast, Mac OS X Snow Leopard costs about $25; there’s no annoying activation to fight with; and you can install it clean on as many machines as you like. If you want to pay a little more attention to the legalese, then you can buy a 5-license family pack for under $50. The current version of Windows is literally 10 times as expensive as the current version of Mac OS X, and that’s being generous to Windows. If we compare to Ultimate edition instead, Windows is twelve times as expensive. If we want to install it on 5 computers, it’s 20-24 times as expensive. Perhaps I’m being a little unfair since Apple’s tight control of hardware means pretty much all Mac OS X sales are upgrades, but even then the cheapest Windows 7 Upgrade is more than 3 times as expensive as Snow Leopard. How’d that happen? Weren’t PCs supposed to be cheaper?

I’ll tell you what happened: Microsoft still has an effective monopoly on PC operating systems, and they’re protecting it. While the price of most software is going down, the price of Windows is going up. Office is below $100, but there’s real competition for word processors and spreadsheets. There’s no competition for Windows Mac OS X won’t run on most PC hardware, and desktop Linux is a failed project. Microsoft figure sit can make more money squeezing people who ar elocked into their platform than by selling a few extra copies to folks like me who have a choice.

If this is indeed what happened, you’ll need to delete the old printer from the printer control panel and add the printer as if it’s a completely new printer. I don’t happen to know how to retrieve or reassign any jobs still pending for the off-line printer.

Beware the Bluetooth, and the treacherous Tenth Dragon., August 28, 2008
Paul Tynegate (New Smyrna, FL)

I have just upgraded from Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 to 10. I am happy to report that so far, after a couple of days trial, this upgrade seems to have been well worth it in terms of increased accuracy. (BUT SEE LATER!) At the same time I was tempted into purchasing the alleged integrated Calisto Bluetooth microphone, attracted by the special price, the convenience of a wireless headset, and the promise of increased accuracy.

However, I have run into two problems, either of which makes the Calisto currently useless. In the first place, the Bluetooth insert device for the USB port cuts out after an hour or two of usage. Its function is only restored after completely rebooting the computer.

The second problem is far more serious. Once the Plantronics Calisto is activated, Dragon Naturally Speaking demands that you ” prepare this user for dictation”. You would probably be encouraged to note that the accuracy level of the new Calisto is rated very high. You are then required to read a passage from a selected text. When Dragon is satisfied with your reading, it will present you with a dialogue box telling you to wait while your user files are being adjusted for your reading. In my case my computer then simply hung up, and could not be started up again without a complete reboot. Two different Dragon phone techs attempted to solve the problem unavailingly, the second one promising I would get a call back from a top expert capable of solving the problem. No reply over the last two days, and similarly no reply yet to an email I sent them yesterday informing them of the Bluetooth insert failure.

I started dictating this review with DNS 10, but, sadly it first began reverting to a habit Id seen before with DNS 9, that is, starting up a new sentence or phase one letter too early. Finally, it gave up altogether and refused to accept any dictation from my old and otherwise commendable Plantronic DSP 400 mic.

So I can hardly recommend purchase of any of this Nuance equipment right now unless you’re willing to pay good money for what amounts to a rather unpromising Beta version. But if they had waited to get the bugs out first, they might well have something really to get excited about. Maybe wait six months, a year?

Lesson: I should have paid attention to earlier negative Amazon reviews. (I trusted Nuance on the basis of good experience with earlier versions.)

Then I start reading the rest of the reviews for the non-wireless edition. Seems like ahout half the customers are happy, but the other half aren’t; and Nuance is really screwing them hard. “Works for me” is not an acceptable answer. If a product works for only half the people who buy it, which is what I’d judge by the amazon reviews, then it’s a disaster that needs to be recalled. Instead Nuance is refusing to talk to its customers and charging them $15 for problems that are Nuance’s own fault.

End result: I think I’ll wait for Nuance to work out the bugs. In the meantime, I decided Hellboy Volume 1 ($12.21) would nicely get me over the supersaver shipping threshold.