Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.0 Standard

Product Details

Product Manual [1.92mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• ASIN: B00008A6CE
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 5, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,223 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Standard 7 is speech-recognition software that offers home users powerful new features to maximize their productivity and have more fun with PCs. After completing about five minutes of training, you can talk to your computer and watch your words instantly appear in virtually all Windows based applications, including popular e-mail, word processor, and web browsing applications. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 is the most accurate Dragon NaturallySpeaking ever, and the easiest to use.

This comprehensive program allows you to launch programs, create, edit and format documents, and manage the desktop--all by voice. It is fully integrated with Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, and AOL, and lets you surf the web, write e-mails, chat on-line all by speaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking represents a significant step forward in the accuracy, speed, and ease-of-use of speech recognition technology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Product, Terrible Technical Support!, September 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.0 Standard (CD-ROM)

When I bought this product a month ago, I was excited about the idea of sitting back and dictating my research essays. For the most part the software recognizes your voice pretty well and even though it does make mistakes, it gets better as you train it. Using it with your mouse and keyboard together works the best.

However, I would have to say from my experience and reading many reviews of this product is that its company Scansoft has terrible technical support. The software has many compatibility issues (eg. Visual Studio, etc to name one)where you get alot of pop up error messages. When you want to talk to someone about it or at least send an e-mail to Scansoft, they want you to pay a hefty fee of $9.95 for each e-mail question or $19.95 for phone support. It seems this company wants to sell you a product but give you no guidance as to any of its quirks. This is almost criminal in my mind.
Because of this, I recommend that people stay away from this company until they realize that charging someone for their product's shortcomings is not RIGHT! I also learned that a voice version of this technology comes with Office Xp and tried it out and works well with a half-decent microphone I have. So, what I am saying is that I would not buy this product due to the fact that if something goes wrong, they do not care! Poor business ethics!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent recognition, poor compatibility, terrible support, October 29, 2003

By 

rabinnh "rabinnh" (Hollis, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.0 Standard (CD-ROM)

Version 7.0 preferred has excellent voice-recognition. However there are some glaring incompatibilities that make the product almost unusable. For example; I have XP Pro service pack two and the latest upgrades to Internet Explorer 6.0. With NaturallySpeaking running, whether I use voice or mouse to click on favorites and select a link, IE completely locks up. Therefore I have to shut down NaturallySpeaking before I can use Internet Explorer, and then restart it when I'm finished browsing. As mentioned by other reviewers ScanSoft charges USD19.95 for each support call after the first -- even to report a glaring bug such as the one mentioned above. This is unconscionable. Based on their support policies alone I would have to say stay away from their products.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typing Made Easy, May 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.0 Standard (CD-ROM)

Naturally Speaking Standard 7 is the best voice recognition software I have used since I first began using voice software in 1998. I have had other software programs, but I have found Dragon to be the best. I have versions 5, 6 and now 7. I find version 7 sophisticated and accurate. In using the software, I experienced no problems with getting it to adjust to my voice patterns. I estimate a 96.5 to 97.5 percent accuracy on the very first run when dictating at an average speed. The clearer I speak, the more the accuracy improved. I use the headphones/microphone that comes with it. I have found that the best way to use this software is to speak as if I were a newscaster - no slang, minimal accent of slurring of words, and simple emphasis on key words. I use this software for graduate level research writing. It requires some training, but this software is a lifesaver (ie huge time saver). If you have been told like me, "If only you could write as well as you speak", then buy Dragon Naturally Speaking 7, you will be amazed how easy it is to use. Caution though, your computer must have the minimum recommended capabilities, or you will get disappointing results. Enjoy!