Why do my friends call it DragonDictate?

DragonDictate was the first commercial speech recognition program offered by a Dragon Systems, Inc. in about 1990. Apparently, it was an excellent choice of name, because people have trouble letting go of it. Dragon NaturallySpeaking was first released in early 1997 (yes, that is over 10 years ago) and is not the same program.

DragonDictate was "discrete speech recognition" software -- which meant that you ... needed ... to ... say ... one ... word ... at ... a ... time.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is "continuous speech recognition" software -- so you can speak more fluidly in phrases or complete sentences.

Some people will even combine the two names, coming up with something like "DragonDictate NaturallySpeaking." Others notice the way the icon appears on their desktop -- with the end of the name obscured -- and so they call it "Dragon Naturally."

This is going to get even more confusing now that MacSpeech has released "MacSpeech Dictate" with taglines like "powered by Dragon." We may even add to the confusion by repeating that line when we describe it. Technically, their recognition engine is licensed from Nuance Communications. (the makers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking)

This is why we ask you funny questions when you call to ask about DragonDictate. We are just trying to find out what you really want.