Me and My Dragon
By Ian Ruder|2021-05-27T15:41:20-04:00June 1st, 2021|
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If you follow the tech world, or if you happen to be a huge Microsoft fan, you may have seen that on April 12, Microsoft paid $16 billion to acquire Nuance Communications, the developer behind speech-to-text stalwart Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Most of the mainstream coverage focused on the impact the acquisition will have on artificial intelligence. But as someone who grew up with NaturallySpeaking and its less-heralded and less-effective sibling, Dragon Dictate, the sale (and the astronomical price) sparked a moment of reflection.
My first introduction to Dragon came in a rarely-used room offset from the main gym where I rehabbed. My parents had urged my therapists to show me how I’d still be able to use a computer, despite not having any arm function and being on a vent at the time.
While I’m sure this conversation is very different 23 years later, thanks to tech advances and the omnipresence of phones and computers, the therapists’ reluctance and lack of enthusiasm for demonstrating my speech-to-text options suggested that my parents’ request was not common back then. The [...]