The Top 10 Things We Like About the New
Dragon Naturallyspeaking® 6

© 2002

We've already identified some exciting features in the new NatSpeak 6...

1. One of the strengths of Dragon has always been its error correction scheme. But, believe it or not, Dragon has made some time-saving improvements to the most sensible correction system in the speech recognition industry. Correcting and training your computer to understand your unique way of speaking just got easier. Kudos to the Dragon designers and engineers!

2. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6 has been customized for Windows XP and Office XP. Installation is a snap. However, the software still works with traditional Dragon commands on older computers and operating systems. (We got it to work fine in DragonPad on an older Pentium II 266 MHz computer with 96 MB of RAM running Windows ME. Albeit, we still recommend a minimum Pentium III with 128 MB of RAM, especially when using Microsoft Word and Office applications with NatSpeak 6.) Albeit, for serious users, the increased performance you'll notice running under XP make these Windows and Office XP upgrades well worth it.

3. You can now backup user voice profiles to a network or zip drive. A much-appreciated improvement for any of us teaching in a lab environment!

4. There is no installation code number! You no longer have to worry about losing the CD sleeve containing the installation code. (For those of us to have a hard time finding our car keys every morning, this is a huge help.)

5. Natural Language Technology commands familiar to Voice Xpress users have been integrated into NatSpeak 6. You'll get the best performance in Word XP. Thankfully, Dragon didn't go too far in its Natural Language Technology implementation. One of the problems with the old Voice Xpress 5 was that there were often too many command options. Some commands could activate accidentally during normal dictation. Dragon has been careful not to interrupt its classic accuracy and solid dictation environment with frivolous commands. They struck a nice balance.

6. Children's stories, written at an elementary reading level, have been integrated into the enrollment. Speaking Solutions asked for this improvement in order to assist young readers, special needs students, and ESL students. (Helps for students with reading difficulties have been integrated into the new Speaking Solutions Nifty Fifty curriculum.)

7. The new voice-activated tables feature in Word is outstanding.

8. Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. Dragon continues to tweak its accuracy performance and the new Accuracy Center makes troubleshooting a breeze.

9. Improved support for Outlook Express e-mail (Windows XP version.), Internet Explorer, and other Office XP programs. Hands-free surfing of the Net just got easier. Simply say the hypertext links and you'll whisk off to your favorite Web sites. (Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0 required for best Net surfing performance.)

10. Dragon has integrated the Voice Xpress multi-modes system, which can be very helpful in certain dictation and editing situations. Basically, you can switch between Dictation only, Command only, Numbers, Spelling, and a combined Normal mode.

We believe you'll find Dragon NatSpeak 6 to be the finest speech recognition software ever developed. There are many other exciting features, which we will highlight in future issues