September 14, 1999 Web posted at: 2:31 p.m. EDT (1831 GMT) by Ephraim Schwartz

From...

(IDG) -- As the number of users browsing the Web, using e-mail, and sending instant messages surpasses the number of people using word processors, voice-technology companies are ramping up their efforts.

Next month, Lernout & Hauspie (L&H), one of the three leading voice-technology software developers, will introduce Now You're Talking on the Web, a $50 software package that will allow users to dictate to Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, and other e-mail packages, as well as letting users input Web links and instant messages.

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While voice-based desktop Web browsing may not be compelling, voice command promises to become the only practical solution for cellular phones and handheld devices without usable keyboards.

"Messaging is the killer app for mobile data services," said David Hayden, a senior analyst at Mobile Insights, in Mountain View, Calif.

The L&H package will also feature what Paul McNulty, product manager at L&H, calls a new language model for instant messaging that understands chat jargon.

"If I say 'by the way' in instant- message mode, 'BTW' will appear on the screen rather than spelling out the entire phrase," McNulty said.

The package will also include Web command and control features and the ability to number all links to facilitate movement between sites.

Last week, IBM's speech division announced ViaVoice Millennium in three versions: Web, Standard, and Pro. Both the Web and Pro versions give users speech-enabled Web browsing for America Online, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Netscape products. Other new features include an acoustic-learning capability, which increases the accuracy of voice recognition over time by learning to adjust to a user's intonation and regional accent.

Users will also be able to use speech-to-text in online chat rooms and create emoticons with voice commands. The estimated street price of ViaVoice Standard Millennium is $59.95; ViaVoice Web Millennium is $79.95; and ViaVoice Pro Millennium is $179. Products are shipping now.

Dragon Systems was the first to ship its voice-control of the Web in Version 4 of Dragon Naturally Speaking last month. Prices for its products start at about $99.

Roger Matus, vice president of marketing at Dragon, maintains a very realistic view of voice recognition on the Web.

"Speech vendors are trying to learn how they are going to interact with the Web. Talking to a graphical user interface on a PC is not the ultimate solution. The question is, where is it going to go?" Matus said.

Matus suggests, like Hayden, that the answer is in telephones and handheld devices. But the future of voice control on the desktop is also being widely debated.

"Desktop speech recognition has to be perfect and it has to make sense, a lot of sense, for its use in a particular situation," said Bill Hills, a senior analyst with the Aberdeen Group, in Boston.

"Voice control will come in a gradual series of steps that will bring us to a full command and control PC. This will be important and highly valuable in special situations," Hills said.

Ephraim Schwartz is an InfoWorld editor at large based in San Francisco.