Microsoft Windows Vista Speech Recognition

© Karl Barksdale 2005, 2006

In early 2007 Microsoft will debut the next version of its Windows Vista operating system. Built into Vista is Microsoft's next-generation speech recognition (SR) program. I had the opportunity to try a beta version of this new SR software while visiting Microsoft at the end of July, 2005 and again, a year later with the Beta 2 release in 2006.

It's good -- very good.

I love Vista speech recognition! More importantly, I think students will love it. My main frustration is that we are still months away from its release. I want to start teaching it right away!

If you were frustrated by Office XP or Office 2003 speech, Vista SR should melt those frustrations away with its clean, intuitive user interface (UI). More significantly, early indications are that Vista's speech accuracy and performance will be similar to what Dragon 7 and 8 instructors now take for granted. After experiencing Vista's speech performance firsthand, I believe instructors currently teaching SR will be quite surprised and pleased by Microsoft's Vista SR software. It's so easy to use that any current Dragon-trained instructor should be able to teach Vista SR in a heartbeat.

Why We Need Speech Recognition in Windows Vista

Vista's speech recognition will be part of the Windows OS, not just a part of Microsoft Office; hence, it will be on every new Windows PC sold. That's big. Consider the implications

Implication 1: A training explosion. I believe that Vista SR will ignite the biggest change in Business Education since typewriters gave way to the PC. Vista SR will start fulfilling Bill Gates' 1998 assertion quoted in Business Week: "Speech is not just the future of Windows, but the future of computing itself."(1) Gates knew what he was talking about then, and Microsoft's development team is doing its part to turn that vision into a reality.

Far our part, we can't move our training efforts forward at a more accelerated pace without Microsoft Vista's SR. You see, by the time the decade is out, we need to teach speech and handwriting, along with continued keying skills, to everyone:

• 80 million students currently in school and those to follow.
• 8 million teachers and support staff.
• Every business and government agency within the sound of our collective voices.

To ignite this training explosion, quality speech recognition must be found on every computer in every Business Education lab. For that matter, SR needs to be on every school computer. This is why the upcoming release of Microsoft's new Windows software (which was code-named Longhorn but renamed Windows Vista) is so very exciting. Pervasive SR can now become a reality. Our job is to make sure students and teachers alike can use it effectively.

Implication 2: Increased productivity. The new Windows OS will sport a speech user interface (UI) that will allow users to control their computers with voice commands. Additionally, voice-typing between 100-200 words per minute will be within the reach of every user. This will dramatically increase the input productivity of those with speech recognition skills. In addition, SR should significantly reduce the number of repetitive-stress injuries caused by improper keying.

Implication 3: The consequences of inaction. My biggest worry is that some of our Business Education colleagues will continue to sit on the sidelines. Wouldn't it be a shame if a board member, principal, or vocational director had to ask the Business Department to start a speech and handwriting recognition training program…instead of the other way around?

I love Business Education, and I worry what the implication will be if the English and Science teachers down the hall start using Windows Vista SR before the Business Department initiates effective SR instruction. Will some comment, quite understandably, "Is our Business Department on top of this?" Input technologies should be the business of Business Education.

Microsoft Windows Vista SR will initiate a new phase in the history of input technologies. Those who have already started their speech recognition programs are positioned to take advantage of this change quickly and with great effect.

Speech recognition, along with its handwriting recognition (HR) counterpart, is finding a place in Business Education. Already, eight U.S. states have included these DigiTools in their course standards(2) and others are updating their standards every day. Our National Business Education Association placed speech and handwriting input tools in its standards in 2001. In 2003, our joint Policies Commission for Business and Economic Education published a national policy encouraging business educators to "take the lead in using, teaching, and integrating" these new input tools in the curriculum.(3) Now, that's leadership!

Every era of dramatic change requires such leadership. The pioneering days of speech and handwriting instruction are coming to an end. With the release of Vista SR, the large-scale retraining of North American teachers and students will move into high gear. And so begins one of the most exciting eras in Business Education's history.

1 Gross, Neil; Judge, Paul C.; Wildstron, Stephen H.; Port, Otis. Let's Talk! Speech Technology is the Next Big Thing in Computing. Business Week, February 23, 1998.

2 Changing Input Standards. Downloaded: August 3, 2005. www.speakingsolutions.com/news/standards.htm.

3 PCEE Policy 73: This We Believe about Computer-Input Technologies. Downloaded: August 3, 2005. www.NBEA.org