Yep, Bonnie, it's all Word stuff.  However, as I alluded to in the previous
post, my fingers may have to continue to do the walking.  For security
reasons, we cannot shut our office doors anymore.  That means a lot of
"water cooler" talk goes on right outside the office.  I'm not one for
bluntness in a politically-charged office environment, so if they don't get
the hint I'm outta luck.  It's a weird place.  One day I can buy whatever I
want, the next I have to account for how many staples I used in eight hours.
Go figure.

Such is the nature of the beast.  There are copious negatives, of course,
but in return I'm virtually guaranteed a job 'til retirement, my health
insurance premiums are $0/month with $10 office co-pays and $5 prescriptions
(parking is a hundred a month, though).  No forced overtime, decent
retirement.  Technically, it's "disability-friendly", which is more than I
can say for corporate America right now.  Academia and government are really
the only two "relative" safe-havens, don't you agree?  Oops, sorry for the
subject change.  My mind wandered....


-Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: bmoulton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 7:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Kyle, Personal experience with Dragon Dictate.


Kyle,

Dragon Dictate is very reasonable for what it allows you to do.

I have the Standatd edition, version, 5.0 I think, - anyway, the latest
version.

If you want to use it to fill out forms I would get the professional version
which you can likely get for less than $300. Also Dragon needs lots of
memory
to run and a quality sound card makes a difference. If you are thinking
about
upgrading your system at any time in the near future, it is good to do it
when
you get Dragon. Not saying you have to, just that it might make sense.

The quality of the microphone also makes a difference. I think the one that
comes with the software is better than it used to be. It is a headset
microphone as you probably know.  If that make you crazy- sometimes it slips
around- you can get a table top model, downside: less portable or wear a
baseball cap. This works well if you have a private office

In general, Dragon works best in private space, not that it needs to be dead
quiet, but your dictacting may distube others.

They say you can be using this in about an hour... that is not untrue... you
can be using it, but using it skillfully takes somewhat longer.

To fill out forms you will likely have to dictate what needs to be filled
in,
the cut and paste - are your forms Word documents? Can they be converted to
Word Templates? If so it might be easier. (Fewer steps)

It is probably worth talking to a Dragon Rep. and seeing if you can really
do
what you need to do before you buy.

As I said, I have the low-end version, the Professional version has some
things that I like and probably does do some things that I don't know about.

Check out the Dragon Sysytems Website.

Best Regards,
You and Laura are in my thoughts.
Bonnie


>===== Original Message From "St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List"
<[log in to unmask]> =====
>Kat, you have a "ballpark" $$$ on Dragon Dictate?  I'll send it on down to
>our Purchasing guy if it's <$1K.
>
>Thanks much!
>
>-Kyle
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kathy Salkin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 11:31 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Therma-wrap or similar product
>
>
>The therma-wrap seems to work well for me, and if it's too hot at first,
you
>can let it cool off a bit before using it.
>
>As for the voice-recognition software, I've used "Dragon Dictate," which
>works
>fairly well.
>
>Kat