Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses continuous speech, or natural speech. This eliminates the need to insert a pause between every word. Just talk to your PC naturally, at a conversational pace. Your sentences appear immediately on your screen and in your document. Dictate entire paragraphs at a time. Compose e-mail messages, create reports, draft letters, and edit proposals just by speaking.

Many people find Dragon NaturallySpeaking helps them to be more productive. As you can see in the example below, Dragon NaturallySpeaking is much faster than typing.

Typing at 50 net words per minute, a person produces a 3-page, 900-word document in 18 minutes.

Dictating 140-160 net words per minute, a person produces a 3-page, 900-word document in less than 6.5 minutes.

**(Net words per minute determined by measuring a person's average gross speed in words per minute and subtracting the number of errors made.)

IS MY COMPUTER POWERFUL ENOUGH? HOW WILL MY SYSTEM PERFORM?
NaturallySpeaking uses sophisticated acoustic and language models to interpret your speech and turn it into text. The program checks your computer’s specifications to determine which set of speech models it will install on your computer. Computers that just meet the minimum system requirements will receive the base models; while a Pentium IV computer with 512 MB of RAM would receive the most sophisticated models available. Whichever the case, the program will adjust itself to the processor and memory of your computer to provide the best combination of accuracy and speed possible.

HAS THE ACCURACY IMPROVED?
We’ve always worked to improve the accuracy of our products, and Version 8 is no exception. We’ve also added features to help improve the accuracy as you use the product, such as the Add Words from Document feature. The advancements in our technology, coupled with today’s faster computers, make for a more accurate product than previous versions. (Note that different people experience different degrees of improvement in accuracy.)

HOW DOES NATURALLYSPEAKING MAKE CORRECTIONS EASIER?
NaturallySpeaking now includes a Quick Correct feature – a more streamlined method of correcting errors. A drop-down list appears when you select words in our editor, suggesting possible alternatives for what you had spoken. It’s very similar to the little spell-check list that appears in Microsoft Word.

DOES THE QUICK CORRECT LIST WORK IN ALL APPLICATIONS?
At this time the Quick Correct list is only available in the DragonPad application.

HOW HAS WEB BROWSING BY VOICE IMPROVED WITH VERSION 8?
With version you can now choose options from radio buttons, toggle checkboxes, switch between frames, and follow image links all by voice using Microsoft® Internet Explorer. We have also improved the way you can follow links which share the same name.

HOW CAN YOU TELL THE SOFTWARE WHICH LINK TO FOLLOW WHEN THEY SHARE THE SAME NAME?
If hypertext links share the same name, NaturallySpeaking displays choice numbers next to each of the options. Just as when you are correcting, you can say "choose two" to select which link you wish to follow.

CAN I STILL DO EVERYTHING I COULD DO IN VERSION?
Yes – you can still jump to links, go to Favorite web sites, enter Web addresses, move around Web documents, dictate into forms, click buttons, and more, all by voice.

CAN I DO WEB-BROWSING WITH NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR
At this time, no. However, you can still dictate directly into Netscape’s text fields.

Microsoft® Outlook (Professional, Medical & Legal versions only) and Outlook Express

I HAVE A DIFFERENT E-MAIL PROGRAM. CAN I USE NATURALLYSPEAKING WITH MY PROGRAM?
Yes, you can still dictate directly into any Windows program, including other e-mail programs. You can also use our improved web-browsing features to work with Web-based e-mail programs such as Yahoo! and Hotmail. You may not, however, have access to all of the built-in commands.

HOW CAN I ADD TERMINOLOGY QUICKLY?
The Add Words from Document feature will scan your electronic documents for unfamiliar words and update the built-in vocabulary appropriately. This functionality allows you to achieve higher accuracy levels by focusing the program on the personal or industry-specific words you use on a day-to-day basis This feature is only available with Professional, Medical & Legal versions only.
 

HOW IS THE ADD WORDS FROM DOCUMENT FEATURE DIFFERENT FROM THE VOCABULARY BUILDER?
Both features accomplish the same task – adding words to your vocabulary and helping the program to understand the way you write. The Add Words from Document feature is designed to be a faster, easier way to accomplish this task. The Vocabulary Builder is a more full-featured tool with additional options available for more advanced users.

CAN I MIX AND MATCH DIALECTS? IN OTHER WORDS, DICTATE IN AN AMERICAN ACCENT BUT WITH BRITISH SPELLINGS?
At this time, no. The dialects and spellings are paired; so the U.S. dialect comes with U.S. spellings, while the UK, Indian, Australian, and SE Asian dialects come with British spellings.