Microsoft has been articulating the vision of a speech platform as the fundament for human computer interaction for the past 10 years. And just as Windows 7 has started acting like the primary vector to bring natural user interfaces to mainstream computing, the Redmond company is already looking ahead to the evolution of the NUI. Zig Serafin, general manager of the Speech at Microsoft group, is leading the software giant’s efforts to make talking to a computer as simple and as easy as using a mouse, but of course much more natural.

Specifically, Serafin and his group are hard at work to build world’s most advanced speech platform, based on the technology acquired with Tellme Networks in 2007. But the goal for Microsoft is not to confine itself to integrating a future speech NUI into a single piece of technology. Instead, the company’s vision is for speech-based technology to span cloud-based voice services, mobile phones and servers. Signs of this vision coming true are already palpable today, with speech being an integral part of Bing for Mobile, Exchange Server 2010, Windows 7 and Samsung Intrepid from Sprint.

“Voice is the new touch,” Serafin revealed. “It’s the natural evolution from keyboards and touch screens. Today, speech is rapidly becoming an expected part of our everyday experience across a variety of devices. Bill Gates articulated this vision a decade ago, and we’re seeing it happen today.”

The software giant is making little secret of the fact that it will drive the future of speech NUI on top of the work done by Tellme, combined with its own research efforts. At the same time, the company is looking to push speech into the Cloud. The Speech at Microsoft group wants to leverage cloud-based technology in order to take speech recognition to levels where it can rival human understanding.

“For perhaps the first time in the history of Microsoft, we have our world-class speech scientists and highly respected software-plus-services experts under one roof, and I believe the resulting collaboration will lead to pathbreaking innovation,” Serafin noted. “The climate in our R&D environment is optimally charged to accelerate advances, leverage the power of software plus services, and revolutionize the ways customers interact with a wide range of Microsoft products.”

Microsoft has recently hired Larry Heck in the role of chief scientist for the Speech at Microsoft group, with the specific mission to push speech into the Cloud. “Speech belongs in the cloud. Only there can you reach the scale, the enormous volume of interactions required to create a speech system capable of rivaling human understanding,” Heck explained. “With the formation of the Speech at Microsoft group, the unrivaled breadth of our platform today, and our cloud-based approach, this future is within sight.”