InfoWorld
April 27, 1998, page 8

Voice recognition software

Microsoft partner L&H to ship verbal link to Word 97
By Ephraim Schwartz

MicroSoft speech partner Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) will ship this week Voice
Xpress Plus, a voice-recognition program that lets users dictate text and
give verbal commands to Microsoft Word 97. 

Voice Xpress Plus is a continuous speech product that will let users speak at
a natural rate, rather than having to pause between words, and use a variety
of "natural language" commands to perform such functions as creating tables,
reformatting paragraphs, editing text, and accessing menu features. 

"With our natural language technology a user can say, 'insert a table, add a
border to it, and summarize this row,'" one L&H representative said. 

The program will cost approximately $100 and will include a noise-canceling
microphone. 

Also shipping is Voice Xpress, a $49 package that uses its own slimmed-down
word pad as the word processor. Text from the word pad can then be cut and
pasted into Word 97. 

The next version from L&H, dubbed Voice Xpress Pro, will work with the entire
Office 97 suite as well as the Windows desktop, according to one industry
source. 

Microsoft will not be adding voice-recognition support to Office until next
year. 

Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products Inc., in Burlington, MA, can be reached at:
    http://www.lhs.com