Question Dictation software recommendation

[Traxan]

Good day. I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to dictate my writing, as my hands are shot from so many years of computer use. Currently, I am using version 13 and because it doesn't play nice with Windows 11 or office 2019, I'm stuck on Windows 10 and office 2010.

I would like to upgrade my operating system and office, but there is far too much crashing when using Dragon. But I checked out the Nance site and they seem to have discontinued the home/consumer version.

So, can anyone recommend a good dictation software alternative to Dragon?

TIA

 

[Steltek]

After Microsoft bought them out, they discontinued the home version and royally jacked up the price for the pro version. They also changed Windows 11 so versions 15 and earlier would not work well with it.

I honestly know of no other dictation software that would replace Dragon. I think Google is working on a cloud version equivalent of Microsoft Recall that might work with Windows, but Google is the only company I trust less than Microsoft with my information.

Have you tried using Windows compatibility mode to see if it works better when run that way?

 

[igor_kavinski]

I stumbled into a really powerful use for the ChatGPT iPhone app: super fast, super accurate voice-to-text transcription

The ChatGPT iOS app lets you prompt it with your voice. It's the best voice-to-text transcription I've ever seen.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[mikeymikec]

Voice Access comes with Windows 11. I played around with it for a short while for dictation and it wasn't awful.

@Steltek I didn't know that, thanks!

 

[igor_kavinski]

Voice Access comes with Windows 11.

First I'm hearing of it. Guess they suck at introducing new enhancements. There really should be a menu item such as "Discover how Windows can help you be more productive!" or "Discover the Windows features to make your life easier!", listing all such features.

I don't know why OS authors think people should've to delve into documentation to figure out all the cool features and possibilities. Even the Linux "man" sucks because a lot of the time, it doesn't list multiple examples or use cases or sometimes assumes a certain background knowledge.

 

[mikeymikec]

First I'm hearing of it. Guess they suck at introducing new enhancements.

I found out about it because a customer (who coincidentally had been using Dragon on their old PC) wanted voice recognition, so I went into Control Panel > Voice recognition (or ease of access > voice stuff, can't remember), went through the setup procedure at which point it told me that this feature has been depreciated and I ought to use Voice Access instead!

IMO it's yet another occasion where Microsoft gives birth to a feature, doesn't bother to improve it, lets it die by the wayside then repeats the procedure all over again.

As for your comment about lack of notification, I suppose all it would take is a "see what's new in this version of Windows" notification which could take one to a web page to explain it all. Android has been doing this for a while now.