jadelennox: Oracle, with her headset, looking shocked (oracle: headset look)
jadelennox ([personal profile] jadelennox) wrote in [community profile] accessibility_fail2010-03-12 10:59 am

dictation software. Mostly.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking very helpfully has the command "shut down the computer", which cleanly closes out of NaturallySpeaking, save your user files, waits until NaturallySpeaking has exited, and then shuts the computer down.

Except.

Periodically, NaturallySpeaking wants to ask you a question during shutdown. Like "would you like to allocate more space to the Acoustic Optimizer?" Something like that. And every time, it turns off the microphone FIRST. It doesn't ask you the question until it has already disabled the microphone. Which means every time it does that, I need to plug in my keyboard and answer the question manually.

This isn't the only way in which NaturallySpeaking forgets that some of the people using the software are using it hands-free entirely. When you run an upgrade, for example, it has to do a certain amount of data gathering: asking the user questions about the system. But instead of doing that BEFORE it disables the old version, it first makes you quit out of the old version and then starts asking question about serial number and installation location. Yes, I understand that using the standard ordering provided by InstallShield (or whatever software package they are using) is easier than doing something non-standard. But Nuance, think about your users. We are using our computers with our voices. If you can change the order of prompts just a tiny bit so that the microphone is ON when you ask us questions, do you realize what a difference that would make our lives?

(Answer: no. The NaturallySpeaking developers who turn up on forms and bulletin boards make it clear that they think nobody is using the product hands-free. There are features I use hands-free which the documentation specifically says can't be used that way.)
codeman38: Osaka from Azumanga Daioh: 'I live in my own little world, but it's OK... they know me here!' (Osaka)

[personal profile] codeman38 2010-03-12 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
My girlfriend has been trying out Windows Vista's voice recognition. It works pretty well hands-free, except for one little issue.

Her surname sounds, at least to Windows, like a command to start a program that requires administrative permissions.

And of course, the User Account Control window doesn't support voice input for security reasons.

And no, there's no way to disable running that command via voice.
softestbullet: Aeryn cupping Pilot's cheek. He has his big eyes closed. (AtLA/ heavy metal mujer)

[personal profile] softestbullet 2010-03-12 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, geez. >:(
aveleh: Close up picture of a vibrantly coloured lime (Default)

[personal profile] aveleh 2010-03-12 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I fail at reading where entries are posted. But laskhjalsjdslakjasdlfhsd that is so.... why on earth would the testers for this software be given keyboards and mice?
pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

[personal profile] pne 2010-03-13 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Given this:

The NaturallySpeaking developers who turn up on forms and bulletin boards make it clear that they think nobody is using the product hands-free.

I'm guessing that they consider it primarily a tool for taking dictation of notes, messages, and letters, with the ability to control other aspects of the system (launching programs, etc.) an afterthought. So their expected audience would use keyboard and/or mouse for everything except dictating texts.
jesse_the_k: Slings & Arrows' Anna says: "I'll smack you so hard your cousin will fall down!" (Anna smacks hard)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2010-03-12 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
that just because people who want choices might be the biggest audience, they're not the *standard* for measurement.

spot fuckin' on.

eat you own dogfood, as the techies so inelegantly say.
bensanaz: (Default)

[personal profile] bensanaz 2010-06-29 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know about the current team working on it, but my father was on the original development team for Naturally Speaking and back then disabled users were considered one of the primary markets. The product has apparently changed hands four times since those days and the original Dragon employees are no longer on the team, so I suspect that whoever has it now just decided that medical transcription was a more profitable market.

I don't have any useful advice, I just think it's kind of sad. My father was excited about the potential of Naturally Speaking to let people use computers who wouldn't be able to without it, and it's disappointing that its current owners don't seem to care about that.