MacSpeech Upgraded to Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0

Nuance Communications, a provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers, has upgraded MacSpeech to Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0, which includes a new dragon 11 engine, and improved accuracy plus dynamic new voice commands for dictation, editing, navigation and proofreading.

Softpedia reported back in February that Nuance Communications Inc. had acquired MacSpeech, the leading provider of speech-recognition solutions for Mac OS X and Macintosh computers

Nuance announced plans to extend the Dragon NaturallySpeaking family of products to what it called “a growing community of Mac users” via a native Mac app. That app turned out to be Dragon Dictate for Mac.

The release is an upgrade from MacSpeech Dictate 1.x which costs $49 for existing customers. The software is available for $199 as a retail package, or as a software download for $179.

“We're heading into Fall this year with an exciting announcement for customers - Dragon Dictate for Mac is here!,” Nuance Communication said in a September 20 announcement.

“Dragon Dictate for Mac is the first major Mac product release from the new Dragon family and, perhaps most exciting, the first to leverage the new Dragon 11 engine (just released at the end of July), resulting in a big accuracy and performance boost over MacSpeech Dictate 1.5,” the company said.

According to Nuance Communication, the new product offers a more streamlined set-up, boasts a revamped Mac user interface, as well as dynamic new voice commands for dictation, editing, navigation and proofreading.

The developers also improved the app’s “learning” abilities, enabling it to respond faster to spoken commands.

Dragon Dictate supports Dragon Voice Shortcuts for searching the web, email and Mac desktop by voice.

“Dragon Dictate for Mac is available for purchase now, and can be ordered for immediate download, or as boxed software for delivery after October 1, 2010,” the announcement adds. “Upgrades are available for registered users of MacSpeech Dictate v1.0 - v1.5.”