The only part I found tedious with Dragon was numerical data. I use lots of numbers in my work and Dragon tended to want to spell out the numbers rather than using the actual numerals themselves. For instance if I wanted to say "The flash drive saved the file in 25 seconds", Dragon frequently spelled out the number. I had to get into the habit of saying "numeral 25" to get the number rather than the word.
Speaking Swiftly
I learned that I talk fast while using Dragon. Other users that speak fast will notice as I did that Dragon can get behind, by as much as a paragraph at times. The reason for this is that Dragon isn't merely putting what you say into print. The software actually listens to what you say, and compares what it thinks you are saying to the context of the sentence to improve accuracy.
Accuracy is very important in voice recognition software as I am sure any user of voice recognition can attest. However, I found that when I was talking to swiftly and using technical terms, that Dragon often ended up with incorrect usages or flat wrong words. After a few hours I settled into a comfortable rhythm of saying a few sentences and waiting for them to be output before going on.
While that technique may sound slow and tedious, it is actually still quite a bit faster that I can type. That said, Dragon is not the best thing for all usages. Some things are simply easier to perform with a mouse and keyboard, gaming being one of them. I also preferred using the mouse and keyboard for surfing the web.
Macros
My work also requires that I frequently reuse snippets of HTML code for laying out documents and web pages. It gets tedious to have to reenter the entire code for every link on a page for example. Dragon allowed me to make a custom macro for the HTML code required to display a hyper link that I could use to save from typing it each time. I simply went into the custom commands function, typed in my code and named it. Then trained the system by telling it what phrase I wanted to execute the code. All this took about 1 minute. After the programming I could simply say "HTML link" and the code was inserted for me.
Accuracy
I have mentioned accuracy a bit already. I would say out of the box Dragon got about 90% of the words I said correct. After using it for several weeks, the software seldom ever misses a word. The beauty of the way Nuance designed Dragon is that it continually improves. The more you use it and correct mistakes you find, the better and more accurate the software gets.
Final Thoughts on Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional
Am I ready to ditch my keyboard altogether? No, but Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional is a huge step forward down the road to doing so. After using Dragon for several weeks, I can see the day coming where we will simply sit down and talk to our computers rather that typing. Those that have special needs will find Dragon can accommodate them very well. If you have a repetitive use injury such as carpal tunnel, Dragon is very good for that also by removing the need to perform most keystrokes.
Really it all comes down to this, is Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional worth your money? Yes, every penny. Don't get me wrong, Dragon isn't for everyone or for every use. However, when you use it for the right things, like Microsoft Office, Dragon simply rocks. You will be hard pressed to find a better voice recognition application available.
