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Re: Dragon versions and meeting accessibility guidelines

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From: Steve Green
Date: Jun 6, 2022 12:07PM

I am not being cynical, and any humour is unintentional. Dragon products have been unacceptably buggy since long before Nuance acquired the company, and they have refused to engage with the accessibility community in any meaningful way. The only thing that changed since Nuance took over, is that prices have more than doubled.

Microsoft's approach has always been to build basic features into Windows, such as dictation, Narrator and Magnifier. They leave it to third parties to build professional grade products with additional capabilities, which is why some people are willing to pay £1,000 for JAWS or ZoomText. There is money in the dictation market because despite all its faults, Dragon is far better than Windows' dictation features.

Nuance know exactly what's wrong with Dragon in terms of accessibility support because they have been told countless times over the years. However, they have never shown the slightest sign that they are interested in accessibility. And while a takeover by Microsoft would rarely be welcomed by a product's users, I think that Dragon is more likely to be improved under their ownership. At least they actually talk to their users.

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of David Wisniewski
Sent: 06 June 2022 15:56
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Dragon versions and meeting accessibility guidelines

I realize you are being cynical with the intent of humor, but it is also a measure of how the marketplace has gone. There is no money in dictation software as the marketplace expectation is ‘why would I pay for something I get free?'. Just as GPS and mapping companies have folded because smartphones offer their services for free, dictation (a key technologies for assistive use) companies are going away. We need to stay on the software companies to ensure that their products, however they are delivered (be it integrated or as standalone products), meet the needs of the community. We can do that by providing constructive feedback: critical evaluation and suggestions on adherence to standards where the targets aren't met.

Regards,
David

> On Jun 6, 2022, at 2:47 AM, Steve Green < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> Microsoft are in the process of buying Nuance, and it's a measure of how unpopular Nuance is that most people think that a Microsoft takeover would be a very good thing.