If using Release 6 then we advise most users to upgrade. There are three reasons not to upgrade:
Just the number of corrections in the software between Releases 6 and 8 are enough to convince us that there is very little reason to remain on Release 6.
For Release 7 users, the jury is still out although as yet we see no reason not to upgrade. But if you are generally satisfied with it, get good accuracy, use Dragon NaturallySpeaking® on only one system with only one input device, and like the way numbers are formatted and Release 7 is stable then your benefits may be marginal and we’d suggest upgrading when you upgrade your computer system or when Release 9 is available, whichever comes first.
What are the major benefits? The following are written based on reviewing the Professional and a cursory review of Medical and Preferred.
This varies so widely person to person we will refuse to make a blanket statement that YOU will have improved accuracy. From results seen to date, it seems that the claims of 20%-30% fewer misrecognitions may be reasonable, but it will depend on what you dictate, how well you pronounce words, how consistent you are in your diction, whether you use Vocabulary Builder or not, and a myriad of other subtle factors. Please do not ask us if YOU will get better accuracy. We don’t know. We don’t think anyone else can tell ahead of time. But on average, we think there will be fewer misrecognitions. That is partly because of the next two benefits, and for Medical there is a third benefit, more specialty language models, that probably improves accuracy.
This isn’t really touted in the ScanSoft press releases. But the ability to better control, on a word-by-word basis, what will be displayed is a HUGE improvement for some. Much of this control is related to numeric formatting, but some applies regardless of whether numbers are involved or not. If you are a diplomat and almost all of the time you say “state” you want it to be capitalized, you can do so. If you always want a word abbreviated, you can do so. YOU choose whether to generally use contractions or not. YOU choose whether to generally use abbreviations or not. You have to be a little picky to appreciate the value of this improvement.
This is huge for some, a minor issue for others. You the users asked for better control and you got it. If you want digits spelled out (e.g. “three”) before the word “trees” and you want it in Arabic numerals after the word “shrubs” you can command Dragon NaturallySpeaking® to do so. If you prefer to not have a space between a number and a measurement unit (e.g. 7kHz) you can do so. You may spend a few minutes setting this up, but once set these rules seem to stick. As part of getting picky, ScanSoft failed to include an option to dictate lower-case Roman numerals.
There are now 12 different vocabularies, each seemingly built for the specific specialty. For instance, in the Neurology vocabulary there are now about 135 words beginning with “neur” in the active vocabulary. There are not near as many such words in the mental health vocabulary. Many more drug names are present in the active vocabularies that have been reviewed so far, and there are many additional detailed changes in the vocabularies. Because there are so many of these vocabularies, I’d like to hear of any specific comparisons or experiences with these vocabularies.
I’m upset with ScanSoft because this may reduce the sales of “Scripting for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.” That is, if users can easily create the commands they need, they won’t buy my book! For people using a lot of boilerplate text who need a few variations, this new feature will simplify the task of building commands that are more complex than what could easily be done with earlier releases.
Unfortunately, NaturallySpeaking 7 was heavily pirated. This essentially forced ScanSoft to introduce a product activation scheme or take other anti-piracy measures. With care, this activation won’t be too intrusive.
It appears that this provides benefits to those dictating on several systems. My own testing of this is limited. Unfortunately, this does not specifically mean that doctors roaming the halls of hospitals or lawyers roaming courthouses automatically get better results!
Use the same vocabulary for multiple input devices. That means one vocabulary for recorder usage, no need for separate users based on different microphones.
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