Someday, speech recognition software may become the norm and replace typing. I don’t see this change happening anytime soon, though. After reading the topic of my Microcomputer Applications discussion for the week, I decided to give Cortana a shot which is installed on my computer. I have heard of other writers occasionally using Dragon Speech while working on a manuscript. Some writers reported that they had positive things to say about Dragon and others not so promising. I can say the same about Cortana. This program ranks right next to auto correct on my cell phone, which I hate. If the program worked the way it was meant to work, writing stories would be almost as easy as reading a book, not to mention the many business managers who would be able to work without a secretary.
Speech Recognition software is already in use for many of the disabled and handicapped and has been for years. Another form of speech recognition software is used in the Amazon Echo. A funny story happened back at Christmas time that wasn’t so funny for the ones affected by the incident. Apparently, a six-year-old girl ordered a doll house and cookies from her parent’s gadget. The incident aired on the news station and when the newscaster spoke the words “Order a Dollhouse,” those who had an Echo automatically ordered doll houses.
http://fortune.com/2017/01/09/amazon-echo-alexa-dollhouse/
I would have been upset too if a dollhouse had been ordered without my knowledge.
First off, Cortana apparently does not speak my language. We were able to get a few words correct in the beginning, but the overall experience was horrible. I became frustrated when Cortana would not place periods where I wanted them. Instead, Cortana began adding to my sentence various words that did not make sense and had no resemblance to a period or dot. I understand that the program has to be taught to speak out language, but these were simple commands that were not responded when stated and are supposed to be preprogrammed. I had printed out the Windows Speech Recognition commands before playing with Cortana.
Someday in the future, someone may be able to perfect speech recognition software, but autocorrect needs fixing first. Right now I lack the time and patience to train my computer how to speak my language.
Linda Nelson 