There was a time when speech-recognition software was all
the rage, and packages from the likes of Lernout & Hauspie and Dragon were thought to be the next big thing. “Talk to your computer,” they said. “It’s
a revolution.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t catch on. For some reason, people felt awkward talking to their PC screens. The software didn’t always work well, required lots of training, and you often spent as much time correcting errors as you saved by not having to type. Now Vista has voice recognition built in, too, so the new version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking needs to impress.

And right from the off, it does. After installation we were able to dictate reasonably accurately straight away. All you need to do is select a regional accent (copies purchased in Australia include Australian and South-Asian accents, as well as US and UK English) and you’re good to go. In fact, after an afternoon’s use, the first draft of this review had been written using the software. That’s very impressive.

But there’s a lot more to speech-recognition software these days than simple text dictation. As with Vista’s speech tools, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 gives you voice control over many Windows functions and application-specific features. Using the software’s command mode you can access toolbars, menus, and select and manipulate text.

You can even launch and control programs not specifically programmed into Dragon’s list of supported applications by using mouse control tools and voiced key presses.

Navigating around web pages is surprisingly easy, too. Once you’ve learned a few basic commands you can click on links by speaking them, scroll up and down pages, and even enter web addresses.

If you choose, you can also have a selection of important commands displayed in a pop-up window on the right of the screen; this gets around the problem of forgetting important keywords. A nice touch here is that the list of commands changes as you switch from application to application.

And the application’s three modes – command, dictation and “normal” – allow you to adjust the way you work to suit the task at hand. Use the command mode to browse websites, edit documents, and control windows; use dictation mode for entering plain text at speed; normal mode, meanwhile, combines both modes for more convenient operation.