Well, here I sit in front of my computer with my hands in my lap and with a microphone and headset on my head. I have just entered the world of hands-free typing and it is a joy.

The program loads very easily and after about three minutes of talking to this thing, I am talking away and typing to the screen with correct spelling and no errors. If you are like me and have a left-hand with some nerve damage this thing takes the drudgery out of typing.

It seems to interface with all data input on my Windows-based computer and they have software for Apple users. So far, I have used this thing on Outlook, Word, and several forums. One of the main advantages is that there is not a lot of retyping, backing up, or error correction. I got it the day before yesterday and I'm already using it to great advantage (and with my lousy spelling it saves having to look up every other word.) You do have to put in the punctuation by yourself by saying words like (.,:;?!, Etc.).
Complex words like hyperbolic, and technical terms such as numerical control, Fortran, large-scale integrated circuit, VHF marine radio, seem to roll off the tongue and right into the document.

One really neat thing is on websites where people tend to make long posts with varying relevance to the topic, this equipment and software tends to make verbosity very easy, although normally, I would escchew that!

Bottom line is, if you have trouble typing either because of a disability or a lack of skill, this is the answer in my humble opinion. I highly recommend it to anyone who has been thinking about getting it.

It seems quite expensive, when you first see it, roughly about $200 but since it came with a $50 mail-in rebate it didn't seem too onerous (see what I mean about words you'd have to look up?).

Oh, and at the same time I upgraded my laptop with double memory (now eight gig) and a RAM drive with 512 gig. That drive replaced the 250 gig disk drive that was in the machine.

Well I guess it's time to close. Even though I am having fun at this, you are probably getting tired of reading this post.
__________________

I use it on my MacBook at the office everyday.

I agree.

Amazing software.

I think dragon is the biggest fucking piece of shit there is. I use it everyday and the motherfucker keeps on getting the same words wrong, spells "Macro blah blah blah" instead of pulling up the macro.

Every 6 months or so whenever it gets bad I have to start up a new user. All of my reports that I have not used a macro have to sent to a transcriptionist for correction/editing as it takes me longer to correct than to dictate.

Said transcriptionist bemoans dragon as well "my iPhone does better"

I highly recommend dragon to any competitor, any friend or for a practical joke......just a total piece of shit

I understand exactly what you are saying. Dragon needs to be educated to understand your various idiosyncrasies, before it learns what it needs to know about your way of speaking.

When I typed 40 words a minute with only a few mistakes, I just thought the words and they appeared on the page. The big problem was that you could type the words faster than you could think of what to put on the page.

The thing about Dragon is when you use it you have to carefully check that it has put on the paper exactly what you said. Once you learn to do this then those little niggles go away.

It is a huge advantage however that if you have an injured left hand like I do, it is now possible to type again. Otherwise, I wouldn't go to the trouble or expense for the thing.

quote:

Originally posted by FMC:
I think dragon is the biggest fucking piece of shit there is. I use it everyday and the motherfucker keeps on getting the same words wrong, spells "Macro blah blah blah" instead of pulling up the macro.

Every 6 months or so whenever it gets bad I have to start up a new user. All of my reports that I have not used a macro have to sent to a transcriptionist for correction/editing as it takes me longer to correct than to dictate.

Said transcriptionist bemoans dragon as well "my iPhone does better"

I highly recommend dragon to any competitor, any friend or for a practical joke......just a total piece of shit

amen to that. i went through several different versions of dragon trying to find one that actually worked at the advertised 98% accuracy. no luck....HUGE WPOS

Obviously, there is some disagreement about the Dragon package.

Now that I've had it for three months, and learn it's idiosyncrasies I'm getting fairly comfortable with it. I needed to learn it's limitations and benefits. You also learn how to dictate to it as it isn't as intelligent as a secretary taking dictation.

I also find that because of these (this is a typical mistake: should have been "the ease") of entering text, you tend to wax verbose. You also need to learn to think in advance what you intend to say before you start dictating. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of mistakes.

The huge advantage is that you can enter text faster than you can think about what you want to say. The more I use it the more it likes my way of dictating. I'm fundamentally now very happy with it but there is an investment in time before you get fully integrated with the system.

i can only relate my personal experience with Dragon. 2 different versions( both professional versions)- pathetic results after hours of training with the software. over $300 wasted....

Just for the fun of it, I am typing this without any corrections.

So far, there has been no errors and this is after using the program continually for about three months. I can do no the programs idiosyncrasies, and I don't dictate too much at a time. This allows the program to do a better job of transcribing my words.

I will admit that I don't use a lot of the special features, but to me the best advantage of the thing is that I don't have to use my left hand anymore and the typing is certainly faster than I typed with my previous speed. (It spelled type instead of typed, so I had to correct the spelling.)

I think the biggest problem with the program as I mentioned before is a tendency to be verbose when it's really not necessary. People respond back to me with their cell phones tend to be more limited in their responses. The only thing that I miss now is not having dictation on my Samsung florettes (4s). It can't do for S for some reason. Don't know why.

I refuse to use any software by Nuance - I hope I got the spelling right.

They drive you up the wall of having to keep logging in and registering, despite the fact the software is legal and registered.

quote:

Originally posted by DMCI*:
Just for the fun of it, I am typing this without any corrections.

So far, there has been no errors and this is after using the program continually for about three months. I can do no the programs idiosyncrasies, and I don't dictate too much at a time. This allows the program to do a better job of transcribing my words.

I will admit that I don't use a lot of the special features, but to me the best advantage of the thing is that I don't have to use my left hand anymore and the typing is certainly faster than I typed with my previous speed. (It spelled type instead of typed, so I had to correct the spelling.)

I think the biggest problem with the program as I mentioned before is a tendency to be verbose when it's really not necessary. People respond back to me with their cell phones tend to be more limited in their responses. The only thing that I miss now is not having dictation on my Samsung florettes (4s). It can't do for S for some reason. Don't know why.

What version?

Version 12.0