ViaVoice for Mac OS X Software Support
- Thread starter VVGuru
- Start date
edX
mac shaman
is this where i vent because i purchased the millenium edition just before the enhanced edition was released and now there is an osx version and ibm wants me to pay more than i payed for my original to update when i thought i was getting a product that worked and would be supported the first time? is there where i tell you that i think ibm is the same blood sucking bunch of ***** that screwed steve jobs and apple users almost 20yrs ago? and now they've just flipped us over and started on the other side?
is this where i send the doctors bills for my increased blood preassure and agitation every time i hear or read the words ibm or viavoice because of this?
can you help with this?
is this where i send the doctors bills for my increased blood preassure and agitation every time i hear or read the words ibm or viavoice because of this?
can you help with this?
Wafa
Registered
First, I agree with Ed views on IBM 100%, the only difference with Ed is that I went, not so willingly though, and paid 180 US$ to get Via Voice for OS X despite I had already purchased ver 1.0 for OS 9.
Second, I have the following problems, which I would appreciate your assistance to solve:
- I experience a very slow loading at start-up for both the Voice Centre and Speak Pad (up to 5 minutes).
- When I try to hilite a word for correction the dialogue box for correction opens up empty (80% of the time)
- During Dictations It stops or have a long response in writing dictated words in the Speak Pad and I had to manually erase the last words and switch the mic on and off to get it to work normal again.
- The last problem that sometimes it freezes up my computer and I had to do a hard start-up.
Apart from those serious problems it quite accurate when it functions normally.
Any advice ?? I am running OS X 10.1.2.
edX
mac shaman
so wafa, you're telling me i could have spent all that money and been as bad or maybe worse off than before? wow, i feel much better now (insert very sarcastic smilie here)
of course this "help" moves at about the speed of phone tech support. over 24 hrs and not even so much as an acknowledgement of my pain or a poorly worded rebuttal!!!
I suspect vvguru's next post will be to announce a 900 number that only operates for 5 hrs a day in the afternoon on australian time and costs $5.00 an hour. or maybe they will only check this thread every monday.
promises, promises, promises.
you know the funny thing that ran thru my head is that ibm eventually got screwed by M$ and so i figured we could trust em again if they went thru all the trouble to make this app for macs. I guess i should have been thinking more seriously about the old saying "tigers can't change their stripes."
"once bitten, twice shy babe.."
-whitesnake, i think
of course this "help" moves at about the speed of phone tech support. over 24 hrs and not even so much as an acknowledgement of my pain or a poorly worded rebuttal!!!
I suspect vvguru's next post will be to announce a 900 number that only operates for 5 hrs a day in the afternoon on australian time and costs $5.00 an hour. or maybe they will only check this thread every monday.
promises, promises, promises.
you know the funny thing that ran thru my head is that ibm eventually got screwed by M$ and so i figured we could trust em again if they went thru all the trouble to make this app for macs. I guess i should have been thinking more seriously about the old saying "tigers can't change their stripes."
"once bitten, twice shy babe.."
-whitesnake, i think
Dear Readers of this Thread,
First, allow me to remind you that this thread has been created for the sole purpose of discussing features and the technical aspects of ViaVoice for Mac OS X. Sorry, I cannot help you with any other issues. If you wish to create a thread to vent your feelings, that is ok. But, unless the nature of the postings are positive and constructive, I shall excuse myself from this list.
IMHO, IBM has created an excellent piece of software that will be of good use for many people. For some people with some technical difficulties, I am here to provide a service: to help you solve some issues and answer some questions. If your needs are immediate, please contact tech support.
For Wafa,
Please send more info regarding how many apps you have in your system, and if you are trying to correct from within Speakpad. Your issues seems serious and I will attempt to reproduce them. Please send me a private email with this info as we do not want to clutter this board with unnecessary postings.
Hope this helps, and I will keep in touch,
VVGuru
First, allow me to remind you that this thread has been created for the sole purpose of discussing features and the technical aspects of ViaVoice for Mac OS X. Sorry, I cannot help you with any other issues. If you wish to create a thread to vent your feelings, that is ok. But, unless the nature of the postings are positive and constructive, I shall excuse myself from this list.
IMHO, IBM has created an excellent piece of software that will be of good use for many people. For some people with some technical difficulties, I am here to provide a service: to help you solve some issues and answer some questions. If your needs are immediate, please contact tech support.
For Wafa,
Please send more info regarding how many apps you have in your system, and if you are trying to correct from within Speakpad. Your issues seems serious and I will attempt to reproduce them. Please send me a private email with this info as we do not want to clutter this board with unnecessary postings.
Hope this helps, and I will keep in touch,
VVGuru
Ed,
The only reason that private mail was suggested here was simply to save bandwidth. Wafa's questions may require several iterations to resolve, and once a solution is reached, the response can be made public.
As for the dark suits and shoes, ... it is more like shorts and sandals, ... during weekends - we're in South Florida. Also, as far as IBM'rs programming Macs, I can tell you that I first started programming on the Mac Plus, and the rest of the guys in the team have as much experience, if not more. So, thinking that we are just a bunch of IBM'rs programming Macs would be totally flawed thinking.
Anyway, I appreciate your comments and feel for your frustrations. As Mac followers, I am sure you appreciate the efforts that IBM is performing both in developing faster chips and providing voice recognition software for Mac OS X.
Regards,
The only reason that private mail was suggested here was simply to save bandwidth. Wafa's questions may require several iterations to resolve, and once a solution is reached, the response can be made public.
As for the dark suits and shoes, ... it is more like shorts and sandals, ... during weekends - we're in South Florida. Also, as far as IBM'rs programming Macs, I can tell you that I first started programming on the Mac Plus, and the rest of the guys in the team have as much experience, if not more. So, thinking that we are just a bunch of IBM'rs programming Macs would be totally flawed thinking.
Anyway, I appreciate your comments and feel for your frustrations. As Mac followers, I am sure you appreciate the efforts that IBM is performing both in developing faster chips and providing voice recognition software for Mac OS X.
Regards,
edX
mac shaman
vvguru - thank you for that last reply. i truly appreciate it. you have changed my assumptions about you even if my opinions about ibm remain the same. I aplogize before all for anything that might have been misconstrued as being a personal slander. your reply was downright human and you used a word that is very important to me - "feel". If you can, even for the briefest moment, share in my anger over the way viavoice has been marketed and my frustration with wanting what the product has to offer - then you have earned some of my respect. I really would rather be 'speaking' these words to you instead writing them. I was really looking forward to dictating most of my disertation - but alas i think that is hopeless at this point. (can't ibm at least offer some kind of great student discount?? or maybe you could get me involved as a beta tester?)
i will still suggest that you post all the iterations of problem solving. the questioning process is as much a part of learning as the final answer. all would benefit. it would also keep your thread alive and help attract others who could rightfully benifit from your help. bandwidth for text is minimal - besides that's the whole point of this site. look around awhile - cluttering the site with posts is encouraged. i am sure admin can manage to support your posts as well.
thanks again for a real reply with a minimum of defensiveness. i do feel a little better now.
and please, with all your experience, make some contributions to other parts of the site. I am sure you have much to contribute if you don't pigeonhole yourself to your job.
i will still suggest that you post all the iterations of problem solving. the questioning process is as much a part of learning as the final answer. all would benefit. it would also keep your thread alive and help attract others who could rightfully benifit from your help. bandwidth for text is minimal - besides that's the whole point of this site. look around awhile - cluttering the site with posts is encouraged. i am sure admin can manage to support your posts as well.
thanks again for a real reply with a minimum of defensiveness. i do feel a little better now.
and please, with all your experience, make some contributions to other parts of the site. I am sure you have much to contribute if you don't pigeonhole yourself to your job.
Ed - I understand, and actually share some of your frustrations about the upgrade. If it were up to me, I would make the software freely available to all, except, that would not be too good for business and chances are my job would soon be obsolete. You see, to develop every new version of the product it has required major re-writes, something which is very resource intensive and costly. Our latest release demanded a year's work from multiple departments, and a full re-write with a new OS and new tools. And, in the end, IBM decided to reduce the upgrade available to VVE+ users from $80.00 to $20.00. My point here is that if there isn't enough profit, no company will have any incentive to develop any new products. Now, we all know that our dollars speak volumes, ... where you put your money decides what the future brings. Unfortunately that's the way the system works and that's what we all have to contend with. My grudge is that most people do not understand this and then wonder why a product is no longer around. Anyway, with that out of the way, I can only recommend that you that you go out and buy the product. Try it, and help us improve it (that's why I am here.) Otherwise, don't expect any new miracles in the near future. Hope this helps, Love and Peace, VVGuru.
John Melby
Registered
I was an early purchaser of the original IBM ViaVoice application for Macintosh, and I also purchased the Enhanced Edition. I found it an extraordinarily helpful application, but I quit using it when I switched to Mac OS X. I was one of the first to place an order for the Mac OS X version, which I've been using with great success ever since I received it. It is an absolutely remarkable piece of software, with accuracy of voice recognition far beyond anything that I had ever expected to see and far and away superior to either of its ViaVoice predecessors.
I also am a member of a discussion group dealing with speech products for the Macintosh, on which Felipe has been a constant presence and a very helpful and frequent contributor. I do not believe that it is terribly productive to vent our spleens about IBM's business practices to Felipe. He is here to solve technical problems and to offer advice, and he has shown to me in the past that he is an extremely competent and knowledgeable person who cares very deeply about the Macintosh and about voice recognition software on the Macintosh.
As far as what IBM did or may have done to Steve Jobs twenty years ago is concerned, in my opinion this is over and done with--it's a history which is not terribly fruitful to discuss at least in this thread, particularly given the fact that many if not most of the people involved may no longer even be employed by IBM.
So why don't we bury the hatchet, and give Felipe a chance to help us learn how to use what I feel is one of the most extraordinary applications yet released for Mac OS X?
By the way, this entire message has been dictated using ViaVoice for Mac OS X, and the only word that it did not recognize is "Felipe", which it consistently interpreted as "fairly pay"! Needless to say, I have now trained it so that it will no longer do that!
I also am a member of a discussion group dealing with speech products for the Macintosh, on which Felipe has been a constant presence and a very helpful and frequent contributor. I do not believe that it is terribly productive to vent our spleens about IBM's business practices to Felipe. He is here to solve technical problems and to offer advice, and he has shown to me in the past that he is an extremely competent and knowledgeable person who cares very deeply about the Macintosh and about voice recognition software on the Macintosh.
As far as what IBM did or may have done to Steve Jobs twenty years ago is concerned, in my opinion this is over and done with--it's a history which is not terribly fruitful to discuss at least in this thread, particularly given the fact that many if not most of the people involved may no longer even be employed by IBM.
So why don't we bury the hatchet, and give Felipe a chance to help us learn how to use what I feel is one of the most extraordinary applications yet released for Mac OS X?
By the way, this entire message has been dictated using ViaVoice for Mac OS X, and the only word that it did not recognize is "Felipe", which it consistently interpreted as "fairly pay"! Needless to say, I have now trained it so that it will no longer do that!
To save money on upgrades, don't buy retail. In most cases going back to the original manufacturer seems to be cheaper. One example, ViaVoice X. retailing for well over $100 most places, I originally ordered the upgrade from IBM for $75. After a week or two delay I received an email message asking if it would be ok to ship the upgrade at the new reduced price of $29 (that's including shipping). I took some of the money I saved and purchased the medical dictionary as well (that was a bit more expensive). I have, to date, had no problems with the OS X version (it's as good as word recognition can be expected with a southern accent). I found the same was true on upgrading MS Office X (about $100 less than the retail upgrade) directly from Microsoft.
The program did not ask for me to insert the original enhanced ViaVoice CD as had been advertised (yes I have it) but does require a USB microphone to work.
I can't explain why IBM suddenly did a price drop (pressure from irate Mac users?) but their customer service people seem top notch. I kept one online for about 30 minutes as he answered my questions as tracked down my original order.
First time posting on this forum. You need to get the word out, this was one site I was not aware existed until today.
tcjohns
The program did not ask for me to insert the original enhanced ViaVoice CD as had been advertised (yes I have it) but does require a USB microphone to work.
I can't explain why IBM suddenly did a price drop (pressure from irate Mac users?) but their customer service people seem top notch. I kept one online for about 30 minutes as he answered my questions as tracked down my original order.
First time posting on this forum. You need to get the word out, this was one site I was not aware existed until today.
tcjohns
i just bought my viavoice x, and i bought a telex H-551 (bad idea?). basically, i am having huge problems getting past the setup in assistant. i have only gotten through it one time, along with 3 stories. it was dictating great. and then the next day after shutting off my computer, it could not recognize a single word. so i uninstalled and started all over and i have yet to get it to work again. ack!!!
i have to say "speak clearly in a relaxed tone of voice...." about 30-40 times. after 2-3 times, the voice monitor starts reporting noise when i am not even speaking. so i go back (left arrow) and start all over. its very frustrating.
ive got a g4-450 dual with 256ram. help? advice? anything.
sukram
i have to say "speak clearly in a relaxed tone of voice...." about 30-40 times. after 2-3 times, the voice monitor starts reporting noise when i am not even speaking. so i go back (left arrow) and start all over. its very frustrating.
ive got a g4-450 dual with 256ram. help? advice? anything.
sukram
edX
mac shaman
felipe (which i understand is pronounced fayleep a, not fuhleep) sit down in your chair and get a grip on the arm rests.
i bought the viavoice for osx today. i will post a pic of me after buying it at mwsf sometime tomorrow. one of the guys at the booth took it for me. i still don't really trust ibm, but i am going to try trusting you. and the others like john who speak highly of it. your replies gained my respect and so i will try again. maybe i will end up doing the disertation on it afterall. i will also admit that the demonstartion at mwsf was impressive. it was one of the most crowded on the floor.
so here's hoping that i am not right back here asking you for major help, but rather to stop in occassionally and say hi and ask for some pointers.
i bought the viavoice for osx today. i will post a pic of me after buying it at mwsf sometime tomorrow. one of the guys at the booth took it for me. i still don't really trust ibm, but i am going to try trusting you. and the others like john who speak highly of it. your replies gained my respect and so i will try again. maybe i will end up doing the disertation on it afterall. i will also admit that the demonstartion at mwsf was impressive. it was one of the most crowded on the floor.
so here's hoping that i am not right back here asking you for major help, but rather to stop in occassionally and say hi and ask for some pointers.
Wafa
Registered
I have posted up here some of the serious problems I am facing with ViaVoice OS X. I was contacted through private mail by Felipe ( At his request) and despite some of the advises he has provided, the problems are still presist. After several exchange of email; Felipe adviced me to contact IBM's technical support; I do not know however if he meant to contact IBM technical support in the USA or IBM local technical support here in Austria, As far as concerned the latter I would doubt they will be able to help much taking into account that I have purchased ViaVoice in the USA and not in Austria which by the way is German-speaking market and the local IBM here would have no interest to provide technical support to users of the U.S. version of ViaVoice like me.
In any case I thought that Felipe will be kind enough to involve his colleagues at IBM Technical support and put them in contact with me in order to solve those problems, as he himself is unable to contact me directly due to administrative restriction at IBM for contacting customers outside the U.S. (according to Felipe)
I'm still waiting for Felipe to do something about that or to contact me himself in order to satisfactorily resolve this matter in a more efficient manner. I am even willing to phone him directly from Vienna if he can provide me with his direct telephone number.
In any case I thought that Felipe will be kind enough to involve his colleagues at IBM Technical support and put them in contact with me in order to solve those problems, as he himself is unable to contact me directly due to administrative restriction at IBM for contacting customers outside the U.S. (according to Felipe)
I'm still waiting for Felipe to do something about that or to contact me himself in order to satisfactorily resolve this matter in a more efficient manner. I am even willing to phone him directly from Vienna if he can provide me with his direct telephone number.
edX
mac shaman
well here i am sitting in the presentation chair at the viavoice booth with product and receipt in hand. i was the last one to get a copy this day. one of the guys took the pic and they were very proud of the product. i told them my story and they wer glad to help. One of the tech reps said he had met you felipe (hence the pronunciation in last post). the lighting is so poor because the mainfloor lights had already been turned off and my cheap camera has no flash. hopefully within the week i will be speaking my posts like John.
Attachments
GadgetLover
Senior Member & Tech Guru
Irritating Bowel Movements
i just bought my viavoice x, and i bought a telex H-551 (bad idea?). basically, i am having huge problems getting past the setup in assistant. i have only gotten through it one time, along with 3 stories. it was dictating great. and then the next day after shutting off my computer, it could not recognize a single word. so i uninstalled and started all over and i have yet to get it to work again. ack!!!
i have to say "speak clearly in a relaxed tone of voice...." about 30-40 times. after 2-3 times, the voice monitor starts reporting noise when i am not even speaking. so i go back (left arrow) and start all over. its very frustrating.
ive got a g4-450 dual with 256ram. help? advice? anything.
sukram
i have to say "speak clearly in a relaxed tone of voice...." about 30-40 times. after 2-3 times, the voice monitor starts reporting noise when i am not even speaking. so i go back (left arrow) and start all over. its very frustrating.
ive got a g4-450 dual with 256ram. help? advice? anything.
sukram
John Melby
Registered
I've found that if it seems to stall, requiring many repetitions of the same phrase, turning the microphone off and then on again from the Voice Center helps to get things going again.
edX
mac shaman
well, I am up and running with ViaVoice. I am dictating this directly into OmniWeb. I still have to correct some things but this certainly works better already than the millennium Edition ever did. The most confusing thing to me so far is when it starts typing words all on its own while I am silent. The only background noise in my room is a hard drive fan. I am spending a little time each day learning more about all the details and recording words it does not know. I expect this will take more time when I actually write a paper on a psychological topic.
I may yet avoid carpal tunnel syndrome! At this point I consider the additional investment to be worth it since the update included the usb microphone which seems to sell for about $50 elsewhere. In the end I paid about equal to the retail price of the program which seems fair. Collotype pull < good example of its typing by itself.
So where are you Philippe? ( in the next update you should teach it to spell your name correctly )
I may yet avoid carpal tunnel syndrome! At this point I consider the additional investment to be worth it since the update included the usb microphone which seems to sell for about $50 elsewhere. In the end I paid about equal to the retail price of the program which seems fair. Collotype pull < good example of its typing by itself.
So where are you Philippe? ( in the next update you should teach it to spell your name correctly
)Friends,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. 2002 is really going to be an interesting year as we have been assigned new responsibilities and the schedule is both full and tight. Please accept my apologies for not answering earlier. But, like I said, we have been soo busy that I am even spending very little time at home. Anyway, I will continue to try and touch base with the list as often as possible, but I do not promise that I can spend a lot of time checking in. By all means, if you have a technical question please do call Tech Support. By calling there we can better track any problems in the field and we can better resolve and plan for the future.
So far, we have had excellent reviews and ratings. We are all very happy with the product, and we hope that you are too. If you exercise your ViaVoice software, you call all be senior members very soon. As for the issues we had for Wafa, I wish all of them could have been resolved. We did found a major issue that several other users have reported. It has to do with the starting up ViaVoice with too many Internet Explorer favorites. The way to solve this problem is to either clean up your favorites from within Internet Explorer, or create a new user. You can also disable the Command and Control plugin for Internet Explorer found in the Utilities/Third Party Plugins.
There is also another problem with air-port users, where VV does not start if connected to a wireless network. We are looking at this, Apple has also released an update to the air-port utility. So, we are looking forward to good news from there, I'll keep you posted.
Also of some concern is that a lot of users are trying VV with microphones other than the Andrea 7100. While I understand the concern here, and a fix is probable, if you really must try another microphone, make sure it downsamples to 22 KHz. That appears to be the main issue, but like I say, a fix is highly probable.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I wish I had more time to help each of you with your problems, and truly provide some personalized assistance. As much as I wish I could, it is out of my hands, ... hence my suggestion to call tech support. They really want to hear from each of you, not go through a back door. In this way, every tech support issue is tracked, and proper "official" handling is performed.
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. 2002 is really going to be an interesting year as we have been assigned new responsibilities and the schedule is both full and tight. Please accept my apologies for not answering earlier. But, like I said, we have been soo busy that I am even spending very little time at home. Anyway, I will continue to try and touch base with the list as often as possible, but I do not promise that I can spend a lot of time checking in. By all means, if you have a technical question please do call Tech Support. By calling there we can better track any problems in the field and we can better resolve and plan for the future.
So far, we have had excellent reviews and ratings. We are all very happy with the product, and we hope that you are too. If you exercise your ViaVoice software, you call all be senior members very soon. As for the issues we had for Wafa, I wish all of them could have been resolved. We did found a major issue that several other users have reported. It has to do with the starting up ViaVoice with too many Internet Explorer favorites. The way to solve this problem is to either clean up your favorites from within Internet Explorer, or create a new user. You can also disable the Command and Control plugin for Internet Explorer found in the Utilities/Third Party Plugins.
There is also another problem with air-port users, where VV does not start if connected to a wireless network. We are looking at this, Apple has also released an update to the air-port utility. So, we are looking forward to good news from there, I'll keep you posted.
Also of some concern is that a lot of users are trying VV with microphones other than the Andrea 7100. While I understand the concern here, and a fix is probable, if you really must try another microphone, make sure it downsamples to 22 KHz. That appears to be the main issue, but like I say, a fix is highly probable.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I wish I had more time to help each of you with your problems, and truly provide some personalized assistance. As much as I wish I could, it is out of my hands, ... hence my suggestion to call tech support. They really want to hear from each of you, not go through a back door. In this way, every tech support issue is tracked, and proper "official" handling is performed.