Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Professional

I will definitely NOT buy this product. I refuse to be RIPPED OFF $10 for EACH AND EVERY time you e-maill or call customer service. This is totally ludicrous, and the support service should be included with the purchase of the product. Apparent Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking is trying to squeeze every nickle and dime out of their customers. I refuse to by any product by a company that will do that to their customers. I think this is about the ONLY company that charges for their support. Try to find an alternative voice recognition software company who will support their product free of charge. SHAME ON YOU, NUANCE DRAGON NATURALLY SPEAKING.

I am a quadriplegic and originally purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Professional for its ability to command WindowsXP, to dictate using Microsoft Word, navigate the internet using Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox, and to type messages during my IM sessions using AOL Instant Messenger. Although the program worked as promised for a time, as soon as Internet Explorer, Firefox and AIM came out with software version updates Dragon failed to function to spec. It still dictates in Word, and its native Dragon Pad. It does not do so consistently with my browsers, IE7 Firefox 2 or AIM 6.5. I was hoping there would be service updates as the products it is supposed to function with evolved, but that hasn't been the case. I am using a state of the art headset and my system far exceeds the suggested system requirements for the program. I dictated this comment in Dragon Pad and had my attendant cut and paste it onto Amazon.

...i thought it was because I wasn't using Microsoft applications that I was having so much difficulty using Dragon but I've just observed the same behaviour within Microsoft applications!
it frequently interprets the dictated text correctly (I can tell, since it's displayed in its status box), but does not perform the associated command or action. It even regularly types built-in command-text rather than executing the command!
and no matter how many times I "train" it to learn certain words, these are misinterpreted.
I'd go so far as to say this has aggravated my RSI since it requires so much training (and only runs on Windows, where i'm a UNIX user).
Oh, and did I mention that it's a memory hog, regularly freezing my laptop, which exceeds its system requirements?!

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 is an unbelievable and extremely effective program that I've used with lots of success. It is as accurate as the company claims and the features are fantastic. This program has lots of extremely useful features, and as long as you get a microphone of reasonable quality you will be extremely satisfied with the features, ease-of-use and phenomenal skill of this program. this is the absolute best program, you can buy if you're looking to find a speech recognition program or you would just like to increase your productivity in the office or would like to work and do your school assignments faster. This is a definite buy!!! :-)