It appears that Dragon Naturally Speaking finally got it right.  The updated version does not require the large amount of training that was required with the prior versions and as a matter of fact I’m writing this post – I guess I should say I am dictating this post – into WordPress having only installed the program yesterday. When I say that there was not a large amount of training involved I spent a half hour maybe a little less during the entire installation process. The set up was straightforward and included a feature where the program searches through your documents and contacts to get a better feel for your writing style and to add the names in your contact list to the programs recognized words. While I have just begun to use the the new version, I can see where working with longer documents, and even editing longer documents, will be substantially easier without compromising the quality.   I find that the accuracy, even though I am still early using this version, to be amazing. The claim is that with increased usage the accuracy will increase but given what I’m seeing now it can’t get much better, it’s that good.

I tried using earlier versions but have always been frustrated by the poor results, even though I sometimes spent as much as an hour or more in the training process and finally just gave up. Now I don’t know if it is or was my poor dictation style but whatever the new version seems to have figured it out.

The version that I am working with is for the PC but Nuance, the developer, has applications for Macs as well. They also have Dragon Dictate for smart phones which I have installed on my iPhone but have not spent any great amount of time with. So if you have been thinking about acquiring voice-recognition software to ease your typing burden you may want to give Dragon Naturally Speaking a try.