I wonder what this would mean for the future of Dragon and or Windows built-in speech recognition?

At this point it is just a rumor but it could have massive effects on those who are dependent upon Dragon as assistive technology. This could be either really good or really bad.

https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-is-reportedly-in-talks-to-scoop-up-ai-firm-nu-1846662275

Microsoft is legally obligated to make the Windows OS and other applications as speech recognition friendly as possible. It is unlikely that hands-free technology would take a hit and more likely that it will be further developed. WSR was already on the Microsoft chopping block. We wouldn't be surprised the Dragon Home Edition took its place.

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Q: What is the legal obligation? Generic ADA (Americans with Disability Act)?  Or was there some specific lawsuit settlement?

 

Why isn't Google under that same obligation?  :-(   Or do they believe that they are as completely speech recognition friendly as possible  already?

 

It often seems to me that when a company gets big enough  they are subject to an ADA or similar lawsuit, and hence have to be more accessible.

 

And that often a new, smaller, start  up rival is less accessible, and probably hence faster at coding other features,  helping them catch up to the big guy,  who has been slow down by their accessibility obligations.

 

Ditto internationalization,  although AFAIK internationalization is seldom a legal requirement. Multilingual support the sometimes is, especially in companies or trade areas that have multiple languages. And  implementations for internationalization/multilingual  port are extremely standardized. Accessibility  is less standardized, especially as new devices with new interfaces  are invented.  

 

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The legal obligation we were referring to is ADA. All it basically states is for software manufacturers to make their products disability friendly. Hotkeys and sticky hotkeys are examples. With that said, we suspect that ADA is more of a suggestion than an enforceable act. In theory, these rules apply to all utilities

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Sounds official on the purchase by Microsoft. Should be interesting if they leave Nuance alone.

We are getting close to December. Is there any new news on this?

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Jeffrey Zents

Latest is that MSFT is still trying to get the EU to approve the acquisition, and that they expect to close the deal in Q1 2022. 

Judging from what NUAN has been saying about their business, Dragon looks to be on the road to the orphanage anyway, as they've been divesting other sectors of their business for years.