Thanks to IBM's VoiceType technology, you can tell OS/2 Warp where you want to go.
Barry Nance
Call it the
Star Trek
dream -- a computer that responds to spoken commands.
OS/2 Warp 4.0
, code-named Merlin, incorporates a voice-recognition technology called VoiceType that brings the dream a step closer to reality.
We evaluated the first public beta version of Warp 4, so we haven't run formal benchmarks yet. However, performance is crisp and responsive, though some advanced features -- voice recognition in particular -- require a speedy Pentium to work properly. Using a headset that will be included with every copy of Warp, plus the sound card in your PC, VoiceType supports
both voice navigation and dictation. Navigation is the ability to
tell your computer what to do -- utter "Jump to Web Explorer" and OS/2 launches your Internet browser, for example.
While Warp's voice navigation works with continuous speech, VoiceType's dictation feature requires discrete speech, in which you pause briefly between words to let the software identify individual words (see the sidebar "Voice Input").
Our test of VoiceType was pretty convincing, producing results as good as most people's typing. When we dictated the original draft of this article, recognition accuracy was about 95 percent. And even with discrete speech the dictation took no more time than if we had typed the article instead.
OS/2 becomes the first desktop operating system to incorporate Sun Microsystems' Java technology (go to
http://ncc.hursley.ibm.com/ja
vainfo
for details). As you surf the Web, or as you develop your own Internet-aware applications, you can use OS/2's Java interpreter or the supplied Java Development Kit to enhance your browsing.
Warp includes OpenDoc, the cross-platform component architecture that lets you create compound documents. The OS also comes with Open32, which emulates much of the Win32 API so programs written for Windows can be recompiled and run on Warp.
Warp 4 comes with a separate CD-ROM that has more than 2000 device drivers. IBM has added a new graphics device driver architecture to OS/2's 32-bit environment. The new driver model will soon support the dynamic loading and unloading of device drivers, IBM says.
OS/2's look and feel changes with version 4. We found Warp's new look a bit prettier than its previous countenance, but it doesn't make you more productive.
With Warp 4, you can use voice, keyboard, and mouse in any combination to navigate, control, enter data, and enter text. We think you may
begin talking to your computer more and typing less.
Product Information
OS/2 Warp 4.0.............$299 (likely price)
IBM
Armonk, NY
Phone: (800) 426-2255 or (914) 765-1900
Internet:
http://www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/os2.html
Circle 1093 on Inquiry Card.
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OS/2 Warp 4.0 includes voice recognition, Java, OpenDoc, a word processor, network management, and thousands of device drivers.
Barry Nance, a BYTE contributing editor, is the author of Using OS/2 Warp (Que, 1994). You can reach him at
barryn@bix.com
.
You Talk, Warp Listens
