Frick, what time is it?
Wired magazine recently ran an article by Alexander Gelfan titled “Long-Promised, Voice Commands Are Finally Going Mainsteam.” Here he discusses what he believes to be the coming age of voice recognition for computer software. He even touts the voice recognition software he was using to transcribe the article. Although there is no way to fully understand his user experience (besides emailing him or using the program), I would guess that he does not use voice recognition for all his articles. Although the article continues to promise better and better voice recognition, I am just not sure if consumers are ready for a computer that we can talk to.
Last Christmas I bought my fiancee’ a shiny new Macbook. She loved it. She spent all day playing with the new features. I remember when she stumbled across the voice recognition because she was ecstatic. She couldn’t believe you could talk to your computer or even ask it a question. She explored further. Named her computer “Frick” as an homage to her favorite expletive. She couldn’t wait to show off her new toy. “Dad Dad, look at this… Frick! what time is it?… <no answer> Frick! what time is it? <no answer> Frick!!! WHAT TIME IS IT?” Finally the fifth or sixth time the computer answered with the time. Not the ideal user experience I am sure. I agree that in time, with better software and a stronger processor, the computer could be tuned to answer on the second or third try, or with luck, the first. The question is really, who wants to talk to their computer?
In the article Mr. Gelfand describes many uses for enhanced voice recognition, and wisely avoids discussing the PC. I would be willing to bet the farm that in 10 years, people will not be talking to their computers on a normal basis. Computers are an individual media, and are very personal. Regularly what I am doing on my computer, I don’t really want others to know about. There are very few cases where I would actually be alright with speaking aloud to my computer, one being the case that I am showing off my new voice recognition software. As for voice recognition for computers at work… probably never. First the noise pollution would destroy productivity, and second, anyone who does any personal IM or Email at work would immediately switch to keyboard to use that. Lastly, since this is a programming blog, what programmer in their right mind would even consider for a second using a voice recognition software to program…
“Frick, object x equals new Person with parameters first name last name…”
“FRICK!, object x equals… forget it, this is stupid”
Tags: frick, macbook, speech recognition