Upgrade! Upgrade! Upgrade!! Ask me why? Here's why you should.
First, welcome to our Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Review!
There are several new features added which help boost productivity. All depends on how you use it. The bottom line is that it's faster, easier and more accurate!
For new end users or if you just have trouble attaining the accuracy you want, DNS 10 is a GREAT BUY or GREAT UPGRADE! It has higher accuracy on startup and supports multiple accents. Dragon 10 now supports US English, UK English, Australian English, Southeast Asian English. New accents include Southern US and Spanish American accents. This is a big plus!
Let's break it down for you into 4 types of end-user groups:
1. GENERAL
If you're using DNS Preferred 9 and are relatively happy with it, an upgrade to DNS Preferred 10 may not provide any extra accuracy. The current improved features don't offer much leverage unless you speak with an accent, are using it with a child, or if you have a speech disability. You do however get a couple of shortcuts you didn't have before and updated support for popular applications. You'll also get a few new Voice Commands. Question is, is it worth the cost? What about upgrading to DNS PRO 10. Now we're talking about features and being a real Power User. Having the ability to Create Macros, Email Shortcuts, Recording of Audio, Networking Support and lots more to make it well worth the cost.
2. DISABLED
DNS 10 also has an added feature to help with slower or inconsistent diction (ie; verbal communication). Automation and usage of macros can save lots of time in dictation normally necessary to accomplish tasks. With DNS PRO 10, this macro capability is present. Here's an example. Let's say you want to check your Yahoo e-mail account. With the Preferred Edition, it takes approximately 6 commands to get there. Then, you lose all control of the interface because it uses multiple html pages in frames, frames, Java and whatever other new technology that may be available as time goes on. You'll find yourself using even more commands trying to get around things and at that point, it becomes a nuisance.
With the Professional Edition, you simply say one command and have total control of everything! He will be right where you want to be. You have the power of creating your own interface with total control. It makes a difference!
3. LEGAL
DNS Legal 10. In addition to features mentioned above there are 4 significant improvements you should be aware of. a. Faster processing time. b. Increased beginning accuracy, and c. Improved support for digital recorders and secretaries and d. The new Dragon Fields for easy navigation through your forms. For a busy solicitor, the use of speech recognition technology along with a digital recorder is common, and with the new template feature in DNS Legal 10 will help facilitate forms and template creation. For a Law Firm on the Rise DNS Legal 10 is a MUST HAVE!
4. MEDICAL PRACTITIONER
DNS Medical 10 has added many improvements, they are as follows: a. more diverse vocabularies supporting over 75 sub-specialties, b. New support for transcription. c. New support for popular EMRs (Electronic Medical Records), and d. An all new user interface. Along with all these new improvements there are a couple of setbacks:
1. DNS Preferred nor DNS Professional will work inside of an EMR. Both Professional and Preferred Editions V10 lost the ability to dictate directly into EMR systems. Users who have Pro or Preferred, with or without add-on vocabularies will have to stay where they are, or upgrade to Medical. To check your edition, in the Dragon Bar, Click Help --> About. This could be an annoyance for many, but let's face it nothing loss nothing gained.
1. Always make sure you have a back-up of your system before any install.
2. There will be bugs, have patience traveling through the myriads of quirks you're not used to. SP1 will fix most of any bugs.
3. There is no support for 64-Bit Processors so don't even go there, however rumor has it we may see the upgrade/patch for Vista 64/Mojave, to be released before the end of the year.
4. You must have an SSE2 capable processor. DNS 10 any edition may not work on PCs older than 2 years. DNS 10 uses SSE2 instructions (used to be called MMX and SSE) Educate you 101: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE2. This was used in order to reduce latency (the speed improvement). SSE2 is supported by almost all processors since 2006, but some systems, although they may meet the processor speed requirement, do not support SSE2. You'll have to search for a utility to test your system. You can try http://cpuid.com/cpuz.php at your own risk. Our search on the internet for utilities kept directing us to this site.