“Apple is about to show off just how innovative it can really be. Without giving it all away, we’ve decided it would be great to goose the Mac faithful a bit with a peek into what will most assuredly be the biggest advance in OS X’s short history.” Read the (unconfirmed) report at MacNet2. In the meantime, Apple released a new Panther security update.
Apple’s OSX to Include Voice Navigation & Embedded Applications?
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Voice commands have been available with every version of OS X since 10.0. No news here.
Embedding applications sounds cool, but I hope Apple doesn’t just hack in support for a few key apps, but rather offers a generalized mechanism for plugging things into the UI. Now that would be spiffy.
And voice control sucks. Research shows that talking reduces the brain’s capacity to think. Thus, if you’re working on a paper, and you have the computer call up the list of US presidents, it’ll totally wreck your train of thought. In contrast, typing does not interfere with your capacity to think. So doing “ALT-F2 -> gg: list of US presidents” (example from KDE) will accomplish the same result, in less time, with less interference to your thought process.
PS> The article sounds like it was written by a bunch of tools. C’mon, calling Longhorn “Microsoft’s own version of OS X?” Yikes…
I’m just not sure that the natural language processing is up to this yet. While it may be able to understand the words coming out of your mouth, actually understanding their meaning is REALLY hard! It may be possible to do this, but I’m just not convinced yet. Maybe 2010 or so is reasonaable. I think they would need a horde of programmers larger than Microsoft’s to achieve this, and make it useful.
As to the integration, I’m also not convinced that they are a great idea. I could probably be well, but its so, so, easy to do it wrong. Just look at microsoft. And the benefits of that integration might not be all that it is hoped for, especially if the voice stuff isnt’ quite as good as they hope.
While the concept of “Computer… blah, blah, blah” is facinating (especially in the video), it’s not feasible today. “Chatterbots” (like Eliza, but vastly more complex) still can’t get it right, because they form their replies from preprogrammed responses. Based on key words typed in and such, etc. Context of speech isn’t even an issue.
To have a computer be able to talk to you and listen to your words, like another person… sorry, I just don’t see that happening in the next version (or two) of MacOS X. And you just KNOW, that Microsoft is gonna jump in and steal Apple’s glory by doing their own version.
True innovation breeds copy-cats. And, in the case of Microsoft being the Big ol’ CopyCat it is, you can imagine how widely accepted it’s version of Apple’s innovation will be…
Hey, Steve Jobs… wanna kill off Microsoft? Shut down Apple for about 5 years. Do absolutely nothing with it. Sell nothing. Innovate Nothing. Microsoft, in their desparate need to copy others for *their* “innovation”, will quickly self-destruct into chaos and mayhem. When Microsoft has declared bankruptcy and gone belly up, you start Apple back up and we all live happily ever after!!!
Oh, the joy and bliss that would bring me… it would be worth not having any OS updates or new Macs for 5 years… REALLY!
Something to think about, I figure…
Luposian
Maybe 2010 or so is reasonaable.
You are being very optimistic. Computing hasn’t evolved much the past 10 years and it will probably go at about the same pace over the next 10 years unless something revolutionary happends (like the transistor).
Voice control could be really cool for some things actually. Sure, for writing reports it sucks, but imagine some other uses of computers which don’t require intense though.
For instance, asking to play you some Beethoven, or to pull up a recipie (if you are in the middle of cooking, you might have messy hands!). Or how about asking a quick question like “what is the forecast for the next five days?” or even “what’s the temperature outside today?”
Voice control will be the next big thing for home automation and the computer as an integrated appliance for such system. In the more distant future, when text to speak systems become better (although AT&T already has amazing TTS technology) it would also be nice to be able to ask your computer “What new messages do I have?” Or “Read the new mail from so and so.”
Why not use the keyboard? Well, maybe you are cleaning while you do this. I know I’ve wished I could make requests of the computer while my hands are full sometimes.
The only thing that would be freaky, is getting used to verbalizing commands while you are alone. It would be weird doing that.
And voice control sucks.
Unless you happen to have carpal tunnel syndrom. Or happen to be blind. Or parapalegic, unable to move to-and-from your computer everytime you want to write an e-mail. Or paralyzed from the neck down, unable to move at all. Or any number of handicaps which prevent you from using a 2d interfacing system at a capacity on par with your average user.
But, since most computer users still have control over both hands with better than average motor skills, there’s really no reason to incorporate voice recognition and navigation support at an operating system level. Why bother?
Its all just bloat, anyway.
Snideness aside (my apologies!), any innovation is better than no innovation. The more Apple develops for voice recognition, the better voice recognition becomes.
The closer to me being able to dictate and send an e-mail in the next room with a Bluetooth headphone, the closer we are to letting handicapped people do the same.
When MS embedded IE into Windows, it was a dirty trick.
When Apple embeds apps into MacOS, it’s a great innovation.
When MS added a centralized adress book to Windows, it was just plain stupid, because viruses could access it.
When Apple added a centralized adress book to MacOS, it was -again- a great innovation.
Can somebody please enlighten me? Why is everything Apple does a great innovation, even if it was done before?
The guy who wrote this seems to be completely clueless. Embedded applications that doesn’t start but are available in a completely different way possibly by speech reconision?
So they run in the background and let you access them using your voice? Wow, what an innovation.
KAMiKAZOW, Apple’s been integrating applications since the beginning. The reason it’s not considered a ‘dirty trick’ is that they don’t force them. Each and every one can be remozed with less that 3 clicks, and none of them stop you from using anyone else’s applications. MS’s dirty trick wasn’t the integration, it was locking everyone else out.
As for OS X and speech, just turn it on in Sys Prefs. Been that way since 10.0. It is integrated into all the applications as well as the OS itself.
i don’t like this idea – building in Safari, Address Book or Mail into system. it’s like WMP or IE in Windows. this means that any bug in Safari or Address Book can directly affect your system. now i can deinstall Safari when i don’t plan to use it (don’t get me wrong – i use Safari every day), i can do the same with Mail. isn’t it better to keep everything decentralized? like in Linux? kernel + modules separated from GUI, separated from apps – this is how it should be. i don’t mind waiting 3 seconds for Safari to start up. i don’t need in built in into my system.
All the applications like iCal, Adressbook and Mail are already far more integrated then anything in Windows. And the way it is integrated is a lot prettier then MS does.
Microsoft Integration:
All MSN contacts are copied to the Outlook express contact list. which makes your contact list a BIG mess with al those stupid long msn names.
My sister her MSN contact list is copied to my fathers Outlook express contact list, really stupid, another big mess!
Apple Integration:
If i recieve an email from my sister, iMail displays a little picture from my sister which is stored in my adressbook, what a very nice surprice,
we wont see that until Longhorn!!!
Anyone remember the scene in Star Trek IV when Scotty picks up the mouse of an Apple computer and speaks into it? While it may not be too practical, it does sound cool.
I think we need to be careful here. For all we know, this is all wrong and Apple is as confused as a 5 year old about what to do next. Remember that this is all just speculation.
Having said that, it sounds cool. I am a fan of OSX, and although I am sticking to Windows for now, I am always looking for a computer — a system — that works like an extension of me. Nothing so far is achieving that. My bets are on Apple to pull it off in the next few years.
ive wanted voice for a long time on my PC. maybe its time to throw it away and get a Mac since Apple are the only ones doing anything cool.
macnet2 is a hobby site run by a guy with a lot of money to spend on all the latest mac toys.
He’s like a sugerdaddy buying all the latest mac toys for his young employees.
The editorial content sucks,
They have no concept of what journalism is- ie, their reviews are total market speak for their favorite products.
That site shows that any one w/ the money to hire graphic designers and ‘writers’ can put up a site.
Too bad he doesnt fund a quality site like OS news.
embedded apps is a bad idea, why would i want to go into system preferences to change my Mail preferences? that’s overly counterintuitive. what happens when X mail client blows Mail out of the water so everyone starts using it, but they are stuck not only having the app on their system, but the preferences crowding their system preferences.
as far as voice activation goes, so many have tried and its almost always been dismissed as gimicky. many cell phones have done a good job with it, but generally you can key or click much faster, and you’re not worried about saything things just right (and sounding lame in the process) so that the voice recognition recognizes what you’re trying to say. and even if you have the best training software in the world, what happens when you get drunk or have a soar throat or decide to speak a different language? my vote is no for both of these ideas.
keep telling me stuff like meta-data driven and i’ll keep getting excited. tell me stuff like this phony balogna crap and i just get all worked up.
Last time I checked you can tell your computer (or in my case, Amy) ‘Amy, Chat with (full name, or Nickname). Or Audio, Video, Mail, Crap this guy must’ve pulled a muscle with this one….
Idiot.
$
You’re right, I shouldn’t have said “voice control sucks.” It does have a lot of uses in home automation and for the disabled. I was thinking more about general purpose interaction with your PC doing regular desktop stuff, probably because the article used the “writing a paper” example. For those tasks I don’t think voice control is a very good idea.
John Galt, you hit the nail on the head, those features have been around since 10.0.
probably because the article used the “writing a paper” example. For those tasks I don’t think voice control is a very good idea.
Me neither. In addition to ruining your train of thought, it is MUCH slower than using the keyboard and mouse when you are in fact sitting at the computer. Well, at least for experienced typists/users.
Cool to be sure, but not incredibly useful IMHO. I’d like to see an easier to use interface (aside from voice recognition) and a much better (read:faster) finder. Besides, how often does VR really work?
since when does vr have anything to do with voice recognition?
And you just KNOW, that Microsoft is gonna jump in and steal Apple’s glory by doing their own version.
True innovation breeds copy-cats. And, in the case of Microsoft being the Big ol’ CopyCat it is, you can imagine how widely accepted it’s version of Apple’s innovation will be…
Microsoft already demoed integrated dictation, commanding, and navigation support in Longhorn at the PDC. There’s a whole namespace in WinFX dedicated to speech. Current versions of Windows support speech dictation, commanding, and navigation primarily on the application level. Longhorn extends this to the system level.
There’s also currently limited navigation support on the PocketPC/Smartphone via an app called Microsoft Voice Command.
Microsoft Research has also been working on speech technologies for years.
http://research.microsoft.com/srg/
http://research.microsoft.com/srg/videos/
Sounds like OS/2 Warp 4 circa 1996!
http://www.os2warp.be/os2ss.pdf
You’re right Corey. I’ve had voice control/dictation since OS/2 2.0 beta.
Easy as pie.
Jump to (fill in the blank)
Dictation. Spoken … like … this … but … it … was … good … for … some … things. And it worked on a 386 with 16MB of RAM. I didn’t say it worked great. But it DID work.
My guess is that most of the people here are 35 and younger. If not 25 and younger.
Sabon, if you want to see Warp really perform, run it on a P-133 with 32MB of RAM……..SMOKIN’!
Well, I would feel pretty stupid saying, “computer, …..” But if I can talk to my system using its name, then I might go for it.
Just a lowly user.
My guess is that most of the people here are 35 and younger. If not 25 and younger.
Hey hey hey! And what if some of us *are* under 25? I still remember voice command on windows 3.11 around the same time as OS/2 2 came out. I even tried OS/2 once (had a demo disk).
Just because some of us are young, doesn’t mean we don’t know the history, or in this case, lived it.
Besides, I’m assuming this is something a little more advanced than those early voice command systems. Those were not very useful in my opinion. Natural language voice recognition is the only viable way to go. I’m hoping this is a little more than “Move left” “Move left” “run” or even “Jump to ..”.
Been voice navigating since OS/2 Warp 3…and before using the covox parallel box as well…
Been embedding apps (Replicants) into my desktop with BeOS for years…
So WHY did the word “innovating” find it’s way into this? Not a damn thing is innovative from them…
it remember me an old apple project: knowledge navigator. it seems that jobs is recycling all the old jewel to make a new shine.
for the embedding apps i have only 2 doubt
1 security
2 will they be like web core and permitt to develop something on top or not?
sorry for bad english
Not a single thing in that article is new. It’s all already in OS X. Been there for years.
Did you read the article? The functionality they’re speaking of is NOT in OSX today. I know OSX has voice recognition….its not the same as what this article covers. The article clearly discuss’ the new ways we *may* be able to interact with our OS through voice and embedded apps. I have voice recognition turned on right now on my PB……I’m now speaking to it saying computer I have a doctors appointment at 3pm on the 28th with Doctor H.R Shuvnstuff. Send me an email reminder on the day of the appointment and an alarm 1 hr prior. Hmmm…..it doesnt seem to be doing anything?!?! No confirmation either. Why isn’ it working? Maybe because that functionality doesn’t exist yet….let alone been there for years.
Did you try telling that to iCal? Works fine here. Here, let me give you a hint, start by saying “Switch to iCal”. Saying thing like that into another app isn’t going to work. What if you are telling Mail what to type a link to send to someone and it opens Safari? There has to be some type of guidelines, and an application switcher is a very reasonable way to do this. Voice recognition works well for things like switching tools in Photoshop, or finding files without having to look, but there are reasonable limits.
And there is no reason to embed the applications themselves when the frameworks (webcore, quicktime) are embedded. That’s how MS screwed up and Apple didn’t. This article must’ve been written by an end user who doesn’t have a clue as to the inner working of OS X.
I’m hoping this was just written by a clueless user (seems to have been) and Apple’s not going to force me to load Safari, Mail, etc, every time I log in. This is “embedding” in the worst sense of the word (e.g. I have a fork “embedded” in my ear). Mail.app isn’t that great. If and when kmail is natively available on OS X I won’t be interested in running it anymore. If I wanted to start it every time I logged in I would just put it in the startup list for my account!
And the “voice control” thing is just too silly for words.
“embedded apps is a bad idea, why would i want to go into system preferences to change my Mail preferences? that’s overly counterintuitive.”
No it’s not. It’s a good idea. If Apple is trying to provide a Palm-like solution, where the computer comes to you as a 100% complete solution for your home computer appliance needs, then this is logical and the right thing to do. This seems to be Apple’s goal; make the computer a true appliance (much as other companies have tried and failed to do, I don’t know how far Apple will take it… they need to reengineer the OS, IMO to make this concept work 100%).
To people who are not tech geeks, the OS is the computer and the computer is the OS. There’s no distinction. “OS” is irrelivant and meaningless. If there is a “preferences” panel, ALL preferences for basic functions (like email accounts and such) ought to be accessed from one consistent interface. Having them separated is the technogeek way and is a result of computers having been a device for which no one knew what exactly to do with it so they tried to make it do everything, a little but at a time, over 20 years of hacking. Do you remember when you used to have preferences and settings for basic system functions spread out into separate apps? Annoying wasn’t it. Oops… Apple still does. Look at the Printer architechture in OS X… I’m still waiting for Apple to pull all of this together. Having the preferences app open another preferences app which opens a printer tool is RETARDED. Same goes for Color Synch and a few others.
“what happens when X mail client blows Mail out of the water so everyone starts using it, but they are stuck not only having the app on their system, but the preferences crowding their system preferences.”
Are you suggesting that the technogeek environment of the X Window System will supercede the Apple OS X native stuff? I highly doubt that. In fact, I know for sure that this will not happen. Not with normal people, at least. Technogeeks can do what they please. Fighting system preferences is something technogeeks seem to enjoy anyway.
I’m looking for a 100% integrated appliance, these days. If Apple accomplishes this some day, who knows. Maybe I’ll forgive them for what they sold me when I bought OSX 10.1.2.
Maybe…