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From: Neal
Date: 07 Jul 2003
Time: 20:52:28
I wonder if there are many regular visitors to the discussion board. I, for one, would like to see other users' comments regarding Qubit Master. (This IS a users' discussion board, after all.)
For instance, what do you think about Qubit Master? How are you using it? -- business apps, internet, games? Any features you'd like to see in the future? Got any neat tricks you wouldn't mind sharing?
Personally, I've grown somewhat dependent on speech command and control. Not really, but it sure makes computing faster and easier. And, yes, I get a big kick out of it too. Kinda like talking to the computer on the Starship Voyager.
Actually, I'm kind of disappointed that speech recognition is not any more advanced than it is. Shoot, I used my first speech C & C software about seven years ago! And to this day, it doesn't seem to have developed as far as one would think. There are still only a few big companies (charging big bucks, too!) and a handful of smaller software companies. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not complaining about any inadequacies of any speech recognition software. I'm just saying that, by now, I would have thought that speech C & C would have exploded with the advent of speech engines, just like graphical user input devices exploded with the development of GUIs. Think about how many companies make mice, trackballs, and all the other GUI input hardware, and how fast the industry grew. And think about how many computer users just naturally assumed, then, that the mouse was the input device of choice, even totally forgetting their keyboard was there. Surely, then, it's not asking too much for speech input to be a little more ... common, since it's been decades in development! Why is it so hard to find bug-free software? Where are all the bells and whistles that other software genre have? Where are the high-quality built-in microphones so you don't always have to fumble with being tethered to a box? Where's the artificial intelligence so you don't have to create every little command and utterance from scratch, and the computer anticipates your actions? WHERE IS STARSHIP VOYAGER?! Oh, well. We can dream on, I guess. It seems to me that there are generally only two target areas that the industry has focused on -- the upper-level professional area, such as medical and secretarial (mostly dictation functions), and the novelty area, such as that which incorporates cute little talking puppy dogs or wizards. I know -- I can make that wizard guy vanish in a mouse-click, but that's not my point. Why is it, simply, that speech has not replaced the mouse cursor for everyday, general-purpose computer use? Just thought I'd ask.
And remember, you can do absolutely anything with a computer ... as long as you know where to put the zeros and ones. ;-)
Neal