Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11 [Old Version]

I use this amazing program on a Gateway 11.6 screen netbook when at work, and a Dell Latitude D630 laptop at home, both with Vista operating system, and it works well on both. I dictate progress notes for my caseload, observation reports, and complete my daily detailed log in a Word Table, all on Word 2000 (hey, I still have it, it still works, its free and no Ribbon clutter or confusion...). But it is still a work in progress. No matter what people say, there is a steep learning curve. It took me a long time, with no help from Help (I figured out it on my own, but you can read the description of how to say individual letters in the Vocabulary Editor), to learn how to dictate client initials such as BW, or XR, (one way is to say: Capital B capital W all run together), without getting such things Bee W, and XAre. New line is what I have to say when I want New Paragraph, because the latter inserts an unwanted blank line. Big mistake to follow Dragons suggestion to have Dragon scan all my existing Word documents--now the Vocabulary lists oddities such as A-Possible when, in the past, I did a one-time list that showed A-Possible Case, B-Current Case, etc. It (or my systems) seems to be very fussy about microphones--a USB microphone did not transmit sound back on the laptop, and really screwed up the netbook to the point I had revert back in time on the computer to before where I installed the microphone, and now have 4 different user profiles. You cant delete User Profiles without help from Dragon tech support, and I have not bothered. A Plantronics headset works well on the Dell, and a CyberAcoustics works well on the Gateway, but not the other way around--again, I am going with the flow and not tinkering to find out why. Oh--did I mention the supplied headset broke the first time I put it in my rolling cart, it was so flimsy? The others are holding up fine, but because my systems or Dragon or both together are so fussy, I bought spares of each. The paperwork part of my job is dreadful--probably yours is, too. And it gets worse each year as the taxpayers want more documentation of what we do, until there will be no time left to do anyting but document documenting. This has really helped me because it is fun, convenient, and interesting. It has not, however, saved any time yet--I purchased this in December 2010. That is because of the steep learning curve of the program. Setting up your system and figuring out what settings you like is a major time hit (do you want a beep every time there is a recognition--I do, but maybe you wont, etc., etc.) Finally, like other reviewers have said, you really do have to think about what you say first. Otherwise, it types your stumbles--no second chances to correct things until it finishes typing what you said. Furthermore, the program is so cognitively sophisticated, it figures out what words you mean from context, thus from listening to and making deductions from what comes AFTER the word. So a whole phrase, or whole sentence, helps speed its processing. Leaving Dragon loaded with the Microphone Off, and the netbook in Sleep mode, I can readily stop and dictate something when I have a few minutes. Otherwise, it takes Dragon, not to mention Vista, a long time to load from scratch. I am glad I bought this program. I have shown it to others, who are impressed, but no takers yet--money and time hit, I think. And unlike others, I could not figure out how to dictate this review using Dragon. I wish the price would stop bouncing around--its a lot cheaper now than when I bought it at $146, then it was $189, now only $130?

I got this program for my wife to help with the amount of writing that she does. My beef with this is the training that you have to do so that the program recognizes your voice. It turns out that my wife has never fully follwed through on using it. It does work, and it does help, but you have to work at it.

Though Ive had the product since January Im unable to actually give it a review as my efforts at installation and activation have been unsuccessful.Reaching the customer service department at Nuance by phone has been an exercise in futility,and even their email is set up to say youre message wasnt sent because of an error,but not what the error was. I havent given up on it,though,and have hope of putting it to good use when I get it working. On a more positive note,I am able to give Amazon a review,and its a good one.You guys are the best.Many companies run well,but few are as well run,taking care of business not only with attention to detail,but with courtesy,honesty and goodwill as well.It is a genuine pleasure doing business with you.If America were as well run as Amazon,Id have a lot more faith in our future. Sincerely,mover1414,Palm Springs,California

I have had this product for some time and it still does not learn my accent. I didnt even know I had an accent, but I must because the software just does not get me, no matter how hard I try. I am a writer and it is difficult at best to be creative with all the corrections needed when using this product. When I am writing things such as a fact-based only article, it is ok as I am not writing on the fly and can deal with all the corrections. It may be a good fit for someone else, but not me.

I had really high hopes for this. I type a lot and wanted to be able to capture thoughts by speaking rather than typing, which takes away from the brainstorming process. After literally hours of training, DNS still has trouble understanding me. It recognises some things okay but still has some problems with simple sounds like if I say a it puts e so spelling a word is more work than typing. Ive tried two headsets so far, so Im trying for a third which hopefully addresses that problem. [Update] Ive tried a new headset -

I was unsure whether I would be getting the latest version of the product, or not, but when it arrived it was 11.5 and not the 11.0 version stated on the product information. I had resigned myself to not having the latest as I couldnt find a product listing for 11.5 version, but the CD is actually 11.5. Product seems nice, but I havent fully trained it yet.

I dont know Which rating is fair.I could not install this program into my old computer. I think its probably the computers fault. So I never used this software. However, I did download the 13 version. I think the 13 version is phenomenal. Very accurate out of the box. Easy to use. IT service is very good. However, after about a 3 month period you have to pay $20 every time you call. This I did not know until the 3rd time I called. Every time I try to update my accuracy or my user profile I end up getting some sort of error. Im not sure if the error is due to some workings within the computer, the software, or perhaps my Internet. I have called 3 separate times to the IT helpers. They have been helpful and resolved my issue every time. Im curious however, the accuracy update seems to have some sort of a glitch. For my accent and voice type, the software was extremely accurate out of the box so I have simply stopped trying to update the accuracy. Everything works fine when I leave that option unexplored. I would give the 13 version 5 stars. It has some limitations but it exceeded my expectations.

The product is outstanding. At first it was hit and miss. But the more I used it the better it got. It learned my speech patterns. I highly recommend the software. The only thing I dont like is somehow they got my cell phone number. I am called every week by a telemarketer from (866) 771-6288 wanting me to upgrade my software. I tell him each time not to call me and he calls back the next week. They will pester the heck out of you! Enjoy the excellent product and DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO NUANCE!

I approached the installation with foreboding because I had read other reviews which were either very positive or very negative. I followed the instructions for installation very carefully, and I failed miserably five times. I was about to send it back to Amazon, but I decided to try once more, and to ignore one of the instructions given by the manufacturer. Voila! The installation worked very smoothly; see more details below. After installing the program it is truly miraculous! On my computer the installation failed on either the third or fourth step. The step recommends that you either do or do not do something while Visual C++ 9 or 10 loads onto your hard drive. When I followed the recommendation the process failed. Finally, when I did the opposite thing installation rapidly proceeded and completed. It is possible that my computer represented a special situation, because I have various versions of Visual C++, Express edition installed on my computer. I have a few other comments to make. If you want really excellent dictation you will need to put in a lot of effort to learn the system. Remember that if you give a command to put DNS into a specific mode and then forget that you have done that, it will create a big mess until you reverse the mode. I am using the program to keep informal notes and to dictate informal e-mails, and it is terrific for that sort of thing. I am hoping that I dont need technical support from Nuance because other reviewers have made very unflattering comments about that support.

11.5 is the best version there is. v.12 is a mess and I never trust brand new software (v.13). Im an AT practitioner and train approximately 25 clients a year on Dragon. The only drawback is Win 8 and 10. It does not work well on 8 and I dont think is compatible with 10 at all. It is hard to find this version so I usually order more than one at once.