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To: Urlman who wrote (5220)	8/9/1998 2:22:00 AM
From: cksla	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8581

urlman- i may be wrong but isn't this the co. that msft bought a piece of b/c of its voice recognition or am i thinking of another co. bob

To: Urlman who wrote (5220)	8/9/1998 3:05:00 AM
From: cksla	Respond to of 8581

OFFTOPIC- Looks like IBM and Dragon have conceded the os will eventually go to L&H with Microsoft's blessing. May 11, 1998, TechWeb News Rumblings Heard In Speech Recognition -- Lernout & Hauspie Still Faces Desktop Competition By Lee Pender Burlington, Mass. -- Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products might have the inside track on integrating its speech-recognition products in Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems, but competitors are not ready to give up in the battle for desktop speech supremacy. In September, Microsoft said it would invest $45 million in the Burlington-based software developer. L&H's software allows users to control and work within applications by speaking into a microphone plugged into a PC. Under terms of the agreement, the companies pledged to develop speech technology together, with the intended result being Microsoft's inclusion of L&H products into the Redmond, Wash.-based company's dominant OS offering. Dan Rosen, general manager for new technology in Microsoft's research division, confirmed that the company eventually will integrate speech recognition into the operating systems but did not provide a time frame. The pact seems to give L&H the advantage in the race for speech supremacy on the desktop. But exactly what effect the deal has on L&H's rivals remains largely unknown. One competitor-Newton, Mass.-based Dragon Systems Inc.-is not giving up the desktop fight. Roger Matus, Dragon's vice president of marketing, said he believes his software ultimately can win. "Keep in mind that when products are integrated into the operating system, they don't always tend to be the premiere product on the market," Matus said. As an example, he pointed to the paintbrush application that Microsoft integrates into its operating systems. The presence of that application in the OS, he said, has not cut into sales of image-creation software such as Corel Corp.'s Draw line. "There's always going to be a need by professionals," he said. "It depends on your needs and where you're going." Furthermore, Matus said his company would not back off from desktop-focused development efforts because of the L&H-Microsoft deal. Dragon will continue to develop for the desktop as long as its products in that category make money, he said. "I know that the desktop is wildly profitable," Matus said. "As long as these businesses are passing their hurdle rates, I'm going to keep going with them." L&H's other primary competitor, IBM Corp., is taking a more cautious angle with its Via Voice desktop product line. In IBM's view, desktop speech recognition now is serving as a test of the technology, which eventually will blossom in other areas, said Joe Orlando, worldwide marketing manager for IBM's speech unit. "It's safe to say the industry's going to where [speech is] going to be part of just about every operating system in the future," Orlando said. "It's just a matter of compatibility, and right now [Microsoft] is driving a lot of that. We're certainly not saying that our bread and butter is going to come from the desktop three years from now. The desktop game is a limited-life-span game." The potential for future profits from speech recognition are beyond the desktop, he said. "The name of the game . . . is when you get it down to your microwave-you talk to it. Your car-you talk to it," he added. "You'll see it in areas where customer service is truly critical-call centers, claims processing, benefits enrollments." Matus agreed that speech technology will grow outside the desktop and said Dragon will continue to develop non-desktop applications. "You will find speech in handheld devices. You will find speech in your VCR. You will find speech in your automobile," he said. Meanwhile, L&H shipped Voice Xpress with an enhancement called natural-language technology. L&H calls it a form of artificial intelligence. The software intelligently interprets commands and formats documents as intended. Copyright (c) 1998 CMP Media Inc.