In trying to improve the speed with which I'm able to create a new document, I'm giving the preinstalled Windows Speech Recognition tool (free, with Vista Home Premium edition of Windows) a whirl.
So far, it's working quite well. The learning curve is not that steep and the speech recognition capabilities are really quite good. The trouble now that I have, is trying to word things before I speak them. I also have to remember to say things like "period" at the end of each sentence. Other things that are a little bothersome include recalling where a comma goes as I'm trying to say things. And then there's also trying to figure out how to get around speaking the key words that are already programmed into the program. For instance if I want to save the words, "Go to the end of document," in an actual document that I intend for others to read, first I need to say, "open quote," then start speaking the key words the program recognizes, one at a time, making sure there is enough silence between the words so the program doesn't perform the action I'm trying to say for someone to simply read.
To start using the Windows Speech Recognition tool that comes with Vista, first you need to have a good microphone. In my tests, I've discovered that the best kind of microphone is the one that goes over the ear and holds the microphone about an inch from your mouth, off to the side, so you don't breathe directly on the microphone. Just head over to your nearest Staples or Best Buy and select one. They're about $20, which is really pretty cheap considering the value you gain, mostly in time. It's a great ROI!
Once you have your chosen microphone plugged into your computer, you'll have to use the old fashioned mouse and keyboard to get the voice recognition set up. Mouse over to the start button, select through Programs, then Accessories, Ease of Access, then choose Windows Speech Recognition. This starts the process and the tutorial so you can train your computer to recognize your voice.
First, it has you say some strange sentences that contain several P words in it - like Peter. Thankfully, it's not the tongue twister, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Then it tells you, basically, "Hurray, you're all set up and ready to go." Next, the tutorial begins to train you on using the proper words and phrases to make the computer do as you desire. The tutorial suggests you print out the words and phrases that you can say, so you can reference them later. In the Windows Help and Support window, "Common commands in Speech Recognition," you have an item list in their quick reference to assist you with things like dictation, controls, how to get punctuation marks and other special characters, as well as learning the basics of how to use Speech Recognition.
The next thing to do, really, is to try it out. I opened up a Notepad window, but I used my voice to do it. It was quite fascinating to watch, to be honest, because all I did was say, "Open Notepad," and like magic, Vista opened it up for me. The cursor stared at me for a little while, blinking, blinking, blinking, as I wondered what to say. I finally came to though, and here I am, dictating the words that are reading now.
Overall, using the Windows Speech Recognition tool was both easy to setup and easy to use. Reluctantly, as I don't often consider myself a Microsoft person, I have to say that this tool is one of THE coolest, enabling, useful tools I've seen from Microsoft in a extremely long time. I highly recommend a tool and often tell my friends about it. I'm not sure if this one particular tool is worth upgrading to Vista or not yet, but I'll stick with it a while longer and let you know. I hope you get the opportunity to try it out for yourself.
While I was dictating this review, my dogs started barking, and I got all kinds of funny things about money and houses and happiness and togetherness that popped up on the screen in Notepad. That makes me wonder if the Speech Recognition program also knows a little something about interpreting Dog as well!
