I depend of Naturally Speaking due to disability. Still, I am frustrated since this is the only application remaining that is holding me back from moving to a 64 bit OS (something I desperately need to do)

Those things make me pray for the return of the ancient Voicetype/Viavoice by IBM…

I was recently contacted by the folks at Nuance:

Thank you for contacting Nuance Customer Service.
I apologize for the inconvenience but the Dragon software will only run up to Vista 32-bit and not on 64-bit OS. The main office is already developing the updates for the 64-bit OS and it will be available by the end of this year. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance. Kind regards, Jessica Nuance Customer Service

and their reply was that while they knew DNS was not compatible with DNS v9, they are looking at releasing a update by the end of the year; to address what specifically - they didn’t say (Jessica). I strangely feel they are going to miss that mark and continue driving with the next version. Leaving all the poor disenfranchised users left holding the bag on their pricey $$$ software package.

Regards,
NapoleonAG

Hi NapoleonAG,

Thank you for bringing up this topic. You are correct that Dragon 10 is not compatible with Vista 64 at this point. You are also correct that we check the installed operating system before we installed Dragon 10 on your computer. We do not recommend that you modify the installer. If you do, while Dragon may install, it will probably exhibit some unexpected behavior and we may not be able to support you.

When we started planning this latest version of Dragon, the penetration of 64-bit versions of Windows Vista was extremely small. In fact, most industry analysts also projected that the penetration of 64-bit operating systems would continue to be extremely small. Based on that information, we decided to release the 32-bit version of Dragon 10 first and follow up with a 64-bit version as soon as we could. Since that time, the adoption rate of 64-bit operating systems has accelerated significantly. We are committed to providing support as soon as possible. We have not announced a specific date for this release yet, but we will be sending out announcements to our registered customers and people who opt in to communications about Dragon on our website.

The work required to support 64-bit operating systems for this kind of application is not trivial. Dragon is an application that interfaces with many other applications on your desktop. And because not every application behaves as you might expect, especially when you factor in 64-bit versions of these applications, the testing required to deliver a high-quality product is not insignificant.

The bottom line is that we know that Vista 64 is important to our customers and we are committed to supporting it. I appreciate your interest in this topic — please let me know if you have any additional questions.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I did dictate this response was Dragon 10

Peter Mahoney
vice president and general manager
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Nuance Communications

Funny, it sounds like the airlines saying we couldn’t have predicted that gas prices would raise, so how could we have ever seen the need to change their business model and therefor are failing.

Mr. Mahoney,
I am truly impressed with your response to my article. I would have never expected this…

While your response is an accurate one, the fact remains that 6 years have gone by an Nuance made a decision to ignore the technology that would evolutionarily make your software better.

Not only has it been ignored, I feel that Nuance has placed its self in a depreciated position in the software market by not recognizing 64bit Operating Systems and making all your existing packages in compatible with 64bit Operating Systems.

The response to that is the ‘…work is not trivial’ may be a slight over statement. I work with programmers; I know enough to be dangerous [and yet stay on the right side of the Force]. The fact that DNS can be installed and used in a 64bit Operating System [limited DragonPad] is possible. So it can be done, it does work, but as others have reported; it just doesn’t recognize the regular windows.

Lastly, while it’s not recommended [and I completely understand Nuances position], my post is to help those users that have been overlooked and refused help. And again, I wanted to say it was an honor receiving your response; you are listening.

BTW, if you’re wondering, I dictated this on Vista 64, using DNS9 [in dragonpad].

Have a nice day sir.

Regards,
NapoleonAG

can you please tell me the steps to install DNS 9 on my windows Vista 64 bit operating system. You can send the details to my email address directly.

Thanking you,

Murthy

Good idea. I’ll work on it. Thanks.
How is St. Louis nowa days?!

I was going to but the DNS v9. However, since my OS is 64bit, i have changed my mind and wait until there will be a DNS which is compatible with 64bit.

Sima

I could not install dragon naturally speaking 9 on my computer with your instructions. It says C:\unzipped\orca\orca.Msi is not a win32 application. And I could not proceed further. And also let me know how to locate the Launch Condition folder. On the whole please elaborate the procedure and oblige.

Murthy

[...] modification of the MSI is required]. I was honored and very surprised to get a response from Peter Mahoney, VP and Gen. manager of Nuance communications, on the post of how to install the software.  And while his response was [...]

I contacted Nuance for an update to this matter. This was their response! So much for end of year 2008 (like others were promised!)

“Thank you for contacting Nuance Customer Service.

We are getting a lot of requests, but products like Dragon are especially complex to support in this kind of environment. We are committed to supporting Windows Vista 64 in the near future, but we have not announced the date yet.

Also, it is our policy that any material comments concerning future results of operations will be communicated through pre-announced conference calls press releases or other means that will constitute public disclosure for purposes of Regulation FD.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards,

Pauline
Nuance Customer Service
“

Yeah, I would expect that type of response.

While I don’t expect anything on v9; DNS Nuance has said it’ll provide a free update to those with a vaild registration on DNS 10; again they have not said when they will do this.

The expectation of delivery is low, so if they deliver before hand it’ll be considered a bonus; I view it as PR booster type thing.

Thanks for reading!

Regards,
NapoleonAG
Email/IM: NapoleonAG.TSS@Gmail.com
Website: http://www.TechSideStories.com

It’s not just hyperbole that makes this issue one of integrity and decency. Users of 64-bit operating systems hardly constitute a disenfranchised minority per se, but many users of DNS (such as myself) are disabled in some way, and have come to rely on the product on a regular basis. “Writing” is what I do, and the dragon has become my constant companion and enabler. I was delighted when DNS 10 came out and immediately upgraded from version 9, which I had been using on a computer that ran on XP.
Then, recently my computer broke, and I replaced it with a new computer that has Vista 64 as its operating system. Did I have any anxiety that DNS 10 would not run on my new computer? Why should I have? It says on p. 9 of the little “User’s Guide”:
>>>Dragon Version 10 is compatible with all editions of Windows Vista.<<<
This is clearly not true, and I can’t understand why Nuance would print that statement since they must have known that it was false. So, here are my issues:
1. Nuance knowingly printed a statement concerning compatibility with Vista that was not true.
2. I’m stuck with how to go on with this important part of my life. Nuance (and before that Scansoft) you have been such a great help to me I have been praising you for years. Now you have let me down.
Is there a “beta version” adaptation that I could install to make it work?

Win,
Your comments are completely validated by all the customers of Nuance that were completely abandoned by their mistake. Dragon Naturally Speaking is not a random purchase and it’s a healthy investment from just about anyone’s standpoint [excluding Nuance].

I stated the same problem [non-disclosure of compatible Operating Systems] to Nuance when I inquired and their response was infuriating to me. Without exact words, they said yeah we know and there’s nothing we can do.

I purchased the ‘Essentials’ package, but the other packages are a much greater investment [from $99 to $1300]. If I had been presented with this response and having paid the cost of the higher packages, I think I would have twisted completely off.

You can install v9 and v9.5 to Vista 64, but not v10; they prevent v10 from installing completely.

Instructions are here:
http://techsidestories.com/2008/10/18/because-nuance-wont-how-to-install-dragon-naturally-speaking-9-on-vista-64/

To date they have not notified or advised any Dragon Naturally Speaking customers about ANY resolutions to address their issues.

The majority of the customers getting Dragon Naturally Speaking [I would presume] are disabled and rely on this package in some way and my response to this is, look how the disabled persons are being treated. Their lives could be and probably are turned upside down by this problem and Nuance is turning their backs on them.

Nuance says they are going to address issues of v10, but what about v9 customers?

I’m not a lawyer, but Nuance would have a problem if I were.

Stores don’t take back software with an open box, the packaging says nothing of being incompatible and NONE of the documentation has ANY mention of a 64 bit incompatibility. The only notification of any problems is after the box was opened, the disc removed and the installation attempted.

So- I hear ya, and I feel your pain… I hope something here has helped you.

Regards,
NapoleonAG
Email/IM: NapoleonAG.TSS@Gmail.com
Website: http://www.TechSideStories.com

[...] the system resources are wrong, the video card you have is too old or if it doesn’t support a 64 bit Operating System- they just don’t care; it’s staying with [...]