While Microsoft’s mult-touch capabilities (and lack thereof) are in the news daily, the company’s speech engine and algorithms don’t often merit a mention.
At the SpeechTEK conference in New York City on August 3, Microsoft officials attempted to explain what the Redmondians have coming in the voice recognition and synthesis space — without going so far as to announce undisclosed products. And yes — before you ask — there is a cloud angle, like there seems to be for every Microsoft product and technology thesee days.
Zig Serafin, the General Manager of the “Speech at Microsoft” group, outlined for SpeechTEK attendees Microsoft’s evolution in speech, a technology area that has been part of the natural user interface (NUI) focus for the Softies since 1993.
In 1999, Microsoft made its first speech-specific acquisition, the speech-toolkit vendor Entropic. In 2007, Microsoft spent $1 billion to buy speech-recognition vendor TellMe. But it wasn’t until a little over a year ago that Microsoft consolidated its various speech-focused products and technologies into the Speech at Microsoft team, whose charter is “bringing speech to everyday life,” Serafin said.
