I was going to post this in the Google Video thread, but I think it warrants a special place for discussion!
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060808/vista-speech-recognition-scre…
It's just over a week old, but this person (who you can tell is a local by his accent) just tested the Windows Vista speech recognition in the July build of Windows Vista, and it works quite well!
It's pretty fascinating to see how they approach speech as a way to control or allow the user to make around the GUI, and I just wonder if Microsoft will let this sort of funcionality easily available for games as well. The possibilities are endless!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying it out come early 2007 or whenever they plan to release it. I can imagine sitting back watching google video or youTube and watching stuff without having to use the keyboard.
Wow, that was pretty amazing. Speech recognition could have a pretty big future if it keeps improving. Writing any kind of document by speaking instead of typing could save huge amounts of time.
I also like the way Vista can easily display active programs ? just like a Mac.
Hmm, combining smarter AI with better speech recognition could be interesting.
?Open monster09.max?
?Animate cool walk cycle?
The whole thing just feels like a strange move from Microsoft, to me. Microsoft makes most of its money from big companies; the average home user is relatively unimportant by comparison. But maybe this is who Microsoft is trying to appeal, because how many of us have their own private, completely sound proof, office space? Can you imagine working in an office full of people talking at their computer? Personally, that would drive me nuts...
hmmm, I agree with you Leto. Hearing people in an office chit-chat on a phone is bad enough, listening to them repeat mundane instructions to their computer would be horrific! I also doubt that it would have any real use, i think most people could navigate folders faster by mouse and many people can type way faster than they can cleary speak.
voice commands were avaliable on mobile phone for a while (don't know if it is a feature that is still offered) but never caught on as a useful/useable feature as far as I know.
So I am voting it to be a grab for some marketing hype. I do think the technology will lead to useful applications down the track and has great potential in gaming. Maybe we will see this technology in Xbox games soon? or is it already, I should really get up-to-date on console technology.
This is how it will work.
"Open Firefox"
You have selected Internet Explorer.
"Close that"
"Open Firefox"
Do you want to delete Firefox.
"Cancel"
You have deleted Firefox. *Opens Internet Explorer*
It does look pretty impresive though. Can't see myself using it, talking to a computer seems.. weird. Though I bet in a few years using a mouse will probably be weird.