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Author Topic: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10  (Read 48603 times)

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Geek-9pm

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Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« on: July 26, 2016, 02:03:31 AM »
To start, this document is being dictated with Dragon naturally speaking. However, I am using another version of Windows that works well with said product.
This speech recognition program I have used for several years and I have used different versions of it. Right now I am on version 11 and am quite happy with it.
Now the bad news. It has been widely reported that Dragon naturally speaking, even this version, will not work well on Windows 10. The parent company, Nuance, claims there is a workaround and that they are going to get it right eventually. They have had plenty of time to adjust their product to work with Windows 10. It's not as if Windows 10 just dropped on the scene instantly. Developers who had plenty of time to try their products on Windows 10.
So then why am I posting this negative rant. Because it is such a outstanding product many people will want to use Dragon Naturally Speaking instead of trying to put up with a mediocre speech recognition that's found in Windows 10. Sad to say, it's a bad combination.
This is not something I made up. I did some research on the subject before trying it out and came to the conclusion that I best stay away from trying to put it on Windows 10. It works good right now on my older XP system. But someday I am going to have to abandon Windows XP and move up either to Windows 7 or Windows 10. Now I would rather be able to go into Windows 10 because it has some outstanding features that I need. But good speech recognition is just not in Windows 10 at the present time.
So if you're thinking of purchasing Dragon Naturally Speaking, you may have tfor anything I've said that's untrueo make some major adjustments to your Windows 10 system if the company ever gets around to coming up with the patches needed. Otherwise, you'll have to use an older version of Windows, such as Windows 7.
If you have any doubts about the veracity of what I'm telling you, just go to their website and look around in their forum and you'll see people griping about it. But it's much further than that, there are complaints all over the Internet about the failure of the company to make the corrections needed to work with Windows 10.
So there you have it. It's a great product from a company that doesn't understand the importance of making software work with a modern operating system. They just don't get it.
If you have some information to the contrary and can document it, please reply to this post  and offer corrections to anything I said.
Now I am going to turn off microphone.

BC_Programmer


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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2016, 02:23:20 AM »
Your title is misleading, since you are specifically referring to a 5 year old version. Version 13 is supported on Windows 10. Version 11 supports up to Windows 7.

Quote
It's a great product from a company that doesn't understand the importance of making software work with a modern operating system. They just don't get it.

Version 13 had a point release in September 2015  alongside the release of 14, which added Windows 10 support. Version 13 and Version 14 are fully supported on Windows 10- there are some caveats because Microsoft has not published accessibility APIs for UWP, (so it doesn't work so well with Edge and UWP/Modern Apps) but there isn't anything to be done on their end as that's Microsoft's decision to be the sole proprietor of narration and dictation technologies under their Universal Platform.

http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17805/~/information-on-dragon-naturallyspeaking-13-and-windows-10
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Geek-9pm

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2016, 03:41:35 AM »
BC_Programmer,
  Thank you for the reply. I welcome anything you have to offer about this subject. If the issue is Microsoft not  making the API more transparent, so bit it.

 Users have complained that Nuance has not done the right thing. Yes, most of the gripes are from last year.  It is hard to find a clear response from Nuance.
I found this:
https://www.quora.com/Does-Dragon-NaturallySpeaking-12-5-work-with-Windows-10
Quote
Dragon 12 and Dragon Medical Practice Edition 2 (European Version) are not officially supported by Nuance on Windows 10 (and for Office 2016), so if you want to be super safe, don't install it on Windows 10. There is a small risk that you will be required to buy an upgrade if there is a problem. If that is a deal breaker for you, stop here.

The above says it does work, but casts some doubt. 
I am hoping somebody will come forth and offer prof that the new versions of DBS work good with Windows 10. So far, it is hard to find.
What follows is date this year and is very negative.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/nuance.html
Quote
When I found your site, I was amazed at all the people who have had the same issues with Nuance Dragon 13 that I have had. I have used version 12 before, but upgraded a year or 2 ago, and have not been able to properly use it since. (I had to remove the version 12 before installing the 13. I think my original was a download to get it quicker.) It just does not seem to configure properly, and after hours of trying, I just give up for a few months. Using Windows 10, and I see here that it is just not compatible. It is really sad that they do not stand behind their products because I would really like to be able to use it.
The other comments are even worse.  The are gripes made in 2016. Elsewhere it was said it would be fixed late 2015. 
Here is a grip published  in April 2016.
Quote
DO NOT BUY DRAGON NATURALLY SPEAKING 13.0 FOR WINDOWS 10. The two are not compatible regardless of what Nuance claims. And they cannot fix the problems. .... 

As i mentioned, I like the product, but I fear I will never be able to use it on Windows 10 until they do a major overhaul of something.





BC_Programmer


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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2016, 05:12:12 AM »
You can find those sorts of complaints about pretty much any product. Either people complain that an older unsupported product does not work on the latest release, or they encounter problems installing the latest version and assume it is a compatibility issue.

First complaint is about Version 12 which did not support Windows 10, as it was released in 2012.

Second complaint is one complaint agreeing with other complaints but providing no detail beyond "I can't use it". People have issues installing otherwise compatible software all the time. I had to try 5 times dealing with arbitrary meaningless error codes on this system to upgrade to Windows 10, for example, and while trying to install a store App I've seen completely blank dialog boxes with no text at all that then prompt "Do you want to cancel" when I click The close button. These are presumably exceptions to the rule eveni f I can find countless postings of other people with the same issue because nobody posts on support forums that "Everything is working fine" Nobody looks for a site like "consumeraffairs" to leave glowing positive reviews.


As far as personal experience with DNS I obviously don't have any. Though the links don 't demonstrate that it doesn't work; you can find similar complaints about effectively any software product. For example Visual Studio 2008 is claimed to not work on Windows 10 in much the same manner- because people can't install it. And yet I've had it installed without issue.
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Geek-9pm

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2016, 12:02:03 PM »
Again, I am doing some dictation.
I have used the following phrase to search on Google.

install dragon naturallyspeaking on WIndows 10

The first responses shown by Google are either directly from the Nuance website or our other articles published last year. This is disturbing. Since last year up till now you would think that Nuance would publish more recent information about installing their product on Windows 10. Instead, older articles are still being found by the search engine. I would think that if they have found a good solution to the problem that existed a year ago, they would have consulted with Google and advised him to use the more recent information when answering the search phrase I have posted above.
In fact, one of the things that shows up in the search is actually an article written by Nuance last year and there is a notation that indicates it has been recently reviewed.
At the present time, the home version of the product is number 13. In current advertisements version 14 is for professional use and is quite a bit more expensive than the home version. Still, even if I were to shell out money for version 14, I would be concerned about getting adequate support for the product from Nuance. The information on their website should be more up to date and reflect the current state of affairs.
So, I'm going to wait and see if anybody else can come up with some positive information that will indicate to me that there is a way of using Dragon NaturallySpeaking home version on Windows 10 without having some very significant problems.
And yes, I do agree with you. I agree with the issue about users not making full use of the resources they have available. Just recently I had to reinstall version 11 on my computer and order to do that properly and to pick a different program directory for Dragon NaturallySpeaking and at the same time I registered my product and got myself a proper username. I don't recall if I had received a username before or not, I couldn't find anything in my records. Anyhow, with a new registration and a new username and installing in a different directory the program came up and worked right the first time in Windows XP. I am talking about version 11 for home use.
As you mentioned, version 13, the one that is being currently advertised on Amazon for home use, was released about the same time that Windows 10 was released. Unfortunately after one year of Windows 10 the still seems to be some issue with even version 13. Hopefully they will update information on their own website to indicate that the problem has been fully resolved. However, as you have mentioned, there is something that Microsoft needs to do to make the Windows 10 API work better with third-party programs. Since I am no longer active in commercial programming, I can only guess at what that could mean.
One last note. all the above is from dictation using version 11 on my XP partition. Any typos or grammatical errors are from direct dictation into either notepad or the computer Hope reply box. I have left intact any of the errors of spelling and grammar to illustrate the power of this product. It is excellent. Quite often speech recognition programs have error rates above 2%. If you were to count the number of words I dictated here and compare it to the typos or bad words, you would see that on average Dragon is doing better than 1% accuracy. In my opinion, that is excellent. I really do hope that they will make it work good with Windows 10 before I have to switch over everything to Windows 10.
End of rant.

patio

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2016, 12:23:05 PM »
Then get the updated version.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2016, 12:50:44 PM »
there is something that Microsoft needs to do to make the Windows 10 API work better with third-party programs.
Standard Win32 Desktop Applications have an incredibly rich automation/accessibility API; this is what programs like DNS use to interact with applications.

For their new Application style- the Modern Apps, UWP Apps, etc (things like Settings, Photos, Groove, Edge, etc) cannot be accessed with that API; the access is limited to basically directing input to the Window blindly and hoping it works out.


So it would seem, Microsoft neglected to create an accessibility API for UWP. Well, no- see they exclusively designed the Accessibility API to only be usable by Cortana. The interfaces and capabilities implemented by the new App style to add accessibility features is done by adding Cortana integration.

Whether they decide to allow alternative software to Cortana I haven't a clue.


I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

Geek-9pm

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2016, 01:02:44 PM »
... For their new Application style- the Modern Apps, UWP Apps, etc (things like Settings, Photos, Groove, Edge, etc) cannot be accessed with that API; the access is limited to basically directing input to the Window blindly and hoping it works out.
... Whether they decide to allow alternative software to Cortana I haven't a clue.
Thanks k for the info. So, is there any way lo force Windows 10 to dump Cortana and ruin a windows 7 compatibility mode for Dragon?

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2016, 01:10:45 PM »
Thanks k for the info. So, is there any way lo force Windows 10 to dump Cortana and ruin a windows 7 compatibility mode for Dragon?
Did you mean to use the word "ruin" in that sentence?   ???

Geek-9pm

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Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2016, 02:01:07 PM »
Yes "run" not "ruin". However, that would also be a question.  ::)

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    Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
    « Reply #10 on: August 22, 2017, 03:40:41 PM »
    Hi, long-term DNS user myself, I think I started on Dragon when it was still called DragonDictate Classic Edition V2.9 I think it was, so I have been with it through many many versions, and many operating systems and now I am facing the Windows 10 problem

    So this is what I know, the last fully functioning version of DNS and Windows 10 is actually DNS V10 , and it's what I'm currently using, but there's a catch, I am using the early build of Windows 10 V1511 and I am limited to this build unable to do any of the updates to the anniversary edition or the creators edition because that's when things go wrong, and I have thoroughly tested this

    First of all when I got when I was 10, I tried both version 11, and 12, and neither worked, satisfactorily, when trying to correct words it would always highlight one space to the left, see the following example

    When trying to dictate "the fox is red" let's say DNS would type "the box is red" incorrectly, so I would say the command "correct box" expecting it to highlight the incorrect word box, instead it looked like this "the_box is red" the _bo being highlighted or selected, leaving the x unselected, so when you correct the word to Fox it would display like this "thefoxx is red" removing the space before and now displaying 2 x's

    so I returned to DNS V10...

    Then came out the Windows 10 anniversary date, and I thought I would try again, so I updated and installed Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 which boasted all of the compatibilities, they were wrong, it was the exact same problem and worse, now they were expecting me to almost completely dictate into the dictation box for every single application instead of directly into what I wanted to use, and using the transfer button which essentially copied and pasted from the dictation box, now this is a nightmare if you want to dictate things quickly, because it has no text options, you cannot adjust font size, okay yes it would dictate with accuracy, but then you would have to completely edit everything, and then if you had overlooked any mistakes, you could no longer correct, at least by voice because you are outside of the dictation box now experiencing the problem with selecting explained above!

    So I uninstalled DNS 13, rolled back windows to the previous build, and reinstalled Dragon naturally speaking 10, and everything was smooth for almost a year until...

    Windows 10 Creators Update!
    So i'm feeling adventurous again, thinking maybe they have fixed it, I install the creators update, and get hold of the latest version, rebranded Dragon 14 (no longer NaturallySpeaking)
    and encountered the exact same problems, nothing is fixed, it had great features, I was excited to use it, but was immediately met with frustration, limited to the dictation box, unable to dictate directly into applications, had to install plug-ins to my Firefox and Chrome browsers in order for it to work with them, it was awful and incredibly restricted because of this

    Basically it felt like you could now only use Dragon either in the notepad, DragonPad, or Microsoft Word wordprocessors and everything outside of this had to be dictated through the dictation box

    So now I am back on the previous build v1511 using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, and having to fight almost a daily attempt by my operating system to upgrade to Windows creators edition unable to omit this upgrade seemingly like in previous versions of Windows when we could go into the control panel and manage the updates more ourselves when encountering problems pushing me into trying to find hacks on websites and forums such as this to block these updates, but still receive security updates, which so far has been a challenge

    And why all of this headache? Because I am a quadriplegic paralysed from the chest down and kind of dependent on Dragon NaturallySpeaking for typing...
    I am now beginning to research the "unsupported" dates of both windows 7 and 8.1 considering a complete change in operating system to a previous version of Windows!

    Hopefully this is helpful to other people!

    Geek-9pm

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    Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
    « Reply #11 on: August 23, 2017, 03:48:10 PM »
    delbarto,
    Welcome to the forum.  :)
    -----------------------------
    This dictation is being done in Dragon and inside of Windows 7 64-bit.
    Apparently my version of Dragon naturally speaking (version 11)  works good in Windows 7. However, there is a very serious problem. I activated this product using my windows XP operating system. I have also installed windows seven 64-bit on this same computer. Both operating systems are legitimate.
    Now here's the problem. Apparently Dragon cannot figure it out that I have to operating systems on one computer and is asking me to buy another license so I can have the Dragon installed on two computers. But I'm not using it on two computers nor can I use two instances of it at the same time. I have only one mouth and I am not double tongued.  :P

    My handicap is much, much less that your handicap. I lost sight of one eyeball  and am not able to read normally. I have to wear glasses and being a foot away from the screen in order to read clearly. It is not that my eye is out of focus, it's just that the central part of the inter eye is not able to recognize objects correctly. It comes from a childhood problem I had that was not a problem until I lost the sight of my once good retina of the right eye.

    Anyway, after a bit it finally let me go ahead and start dictating using Windows 7. I suppose in a few days and all night me again about buying a license for this version of the Dragon. I'm not even going to try to install it on Windows 10. It works good enough on Windows 7, so I'll just boot up Windows 7 whenever I want to use the Dragon.

    And yes, I have to use the DragonPad. Trying to use other software becomes very difficult. So I use the DragonPad and save it in the RTF style. When posting on computer Hope I do not try to use the Dragon inside of the text box on the computer Hope website.

    I certainly admire your patience and endurance to deal with your handicap. I understand what it means to become discouraged and feel like just giving up on everything. And then after thinking about it for a while, I realize I have nothing to complain about all. Other people have things much worse than I do.
    Here on computer Hope there are some really nice people that will help you out. I still come back here even though sometimes I annoy other people and they get irritated with me for my ranting and carrying on about things that should not be an issue. Well, when a person is very frustrated, even little things become an issue.
    Please come back here to the computer Hope form anytime you feel like it and say anything you want about anything.

    Now here's a comment about the possible future Windows 10. The future Windows 10 is very uncertain. At some point in time Microsoft is going to have to come to a fork in the road. In fact, they already have. It's not possible to have one version of Windows 10 that will satisfy everybody. Some features  necessary in an enterprise are not needed at all in a home environment. And some of the security updates that Microsoft has made have been catastrophic.

     Hundreds of users have complained they have lost the usability or functionality of their computer because of a Windows 10 update. This means that professional users must turn off the automatic updates altogether and then manually do the updates over the weekend after making a backup of the entire system. I am not exaggerating. Talk to some people that work in the big companies.

    For now  Microsoft will in support for Windows 7 and soon stop. . However, that is not a good enough reason to stop using Windows 7. It will continue to be the preferred operating system for many people for a long time to come.
    I recomend you use Windows  7.
    Now is the time for me to stop talking.   :)

    Come back again.

    EDIT:  Some statements have been made to the effedt that Dragon now works with Windows 10 correctly. But before you try it, ceck with the nuance web site and see what they now say.
    http://shop.nuance.com/store/nuanceus/Custom/pbPage.resp-dragon-naturallyspeaking-home-13
    IMO the user should not have to buy a new version to fix what shouldlnly be a mere compatibiluty issue.  Put another way, it is a problem with Nuance, not Microosft. Nuance might just undergo a huge change due to poor leadership. It is not a very new company. By now they ought to have a grip on what they do.
    https://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/nuance.html
    But I will continue to use it anyway.  :)
    « Last Edit: August 23, 2017, 04:10:23 PM by Geek-9pm »

    mred



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      Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
      « Reply #12 on: October 16, 2017, 10:20:39 AM »
      Dragon Professional Individual (Dragon 15) works exceptionally well we Windows 10 and I have no problem with it either using Google Chrome.  I do agree we comments made about Nuances inability to support browsers properly needs to be continuously reloaded.  As for Microsoft Edge,  it is a complete disaster.  Initially, it was possible to type in search command by voice, but the programme seemed to hang.  Now, after recent very positive revisions to Microsoft Edge in terms of its functionality, it is almost impossible to input a search command as it goes in letter by letter and takes so long as to render the whole use of Microsoft Edge pointless so well done to Microsoft in improving their browser and please can Nuance spend more time in making what is a brilliant product for those of us who have difficulty typing or who are disabled work with mainstream browsers.  In particular, there have been so many improvements to Microsoft Edge and it seems inconceivable that Nuance would not attempt to ensure improved compatibility so that users can benefit even more.

      I agree with previous users that compatibility is even more important than additional features.  Windows 10, its browser Microsoft Edge and the office suite are absolutely essential products for most users.  In addition other browsers such as Firefox and Google Chrome should also be fully supported and it should not be necessary to have to keep on continuously reloading extensions as is the case when using Google Chrome with Dragon.

      Geek-9pm

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      Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
      « Reply #13 on: October 18, 2017, 11:30:51 AM »
      Mred, Thank you.
      I agree.
      We need evolutionary products.
      Not revolutionary products.
      New software should adapt to the existing environment,  not destroy it with changes that make things fail.
      Microsoft will drop the edge thing.
      It does not have an edge. It is a dull tool.
      It is like getting a new butter knife and then being told you have to upgrade to a new version of Butter. You can not use Butter 1.0, you must get Butter 2.0 so that the new Microsoft Knife can cut  into the butter without sticking.  ::)




      Mary



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        Re: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Does NOT work on Windows 10
        « Reply #14 on: December 28, 2017, 03:53:41 PM »
         :'(I just purchased Nuance 13 which supposedly works on Windows 7. See this url:http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16262/~/system-requirements-for-dragon-naturallyspeaking-13. It is a nice program, but have trouble connecting some times. Lately, it wants an extra 20 minutes to update its speech recognition. Note: I also was using textmaker software in place of word. Textmaker updates alot: then, the Nuance cannot connect to it. Disappointed as of now. But Nuance lists Windows 7 as compatible with 13. They are wiggling out of it now, saying it needs Windows 10. Here, I read 13 doesn't work with Windows 10, either. Maybe the problem is Nuance 13?