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Hi everyone,

This weekend I assembled a computer based on Sandeep's recommendations, using an Intel motherboard and an i5 processor. Operating system is Win 7 Pro 64 bit. Over all this is a great system! Incredible, especially, how much faster the Internet is.

My problem involves Dragon Naturally Speaking. In a nutshell, the newer versions of Dragon require Dragon Medical if an electronic medical record is open on the same computer. Dragon Medical is about $1500 per user. We have been using Dragon Medical eight, and Dragon nine Preferred, with fairly good results.

The problem is that neither of the above programs will run on Windows 7 64 bit. Someone (Sandeep?) suggested installing Windows XP mode, and running Dragon through this.

I have installed Windows XP mode, and have installed Dragon Medical eight on this. When I open Win XP mode as a virtual machine, Dragon will run properly. How ever, if I flip back and forth between AC in Windows 7, and Dragon in XP mode, I cannot get Dragon to dictate into AC, it will only dictate into the XP mode.

If I stay in Win7 and open Dragon as an XP application, Dragon will appear to open, and the small yellow dictation box will open. I can turn the microphone on and off. However, Dragon will not recognize any speech. The small yellow dictation box will go blank, and may show question marks, but it will not recognize any speech. Also, I cannot access the Dragon taskbar.

About the only option I can think of now is to run both Dragon and AC in Win XP mode. With but if I'm going to do that, I could just set up a computer with an XP operating system.

Any thoughts?

Thanks. Gene.

Sounds like you should run Dragon in XP mode and with AC on the same side for dictation, which will primarily be the HPI. You can either continue on that side or forward it and open in Win 7 mode where it will probably run faster.

The easiest option would be as Wendell recommends. Installing both AC and Dragon in the VM. But I am curious to see what happens when you try to install Dragon Medical on Win 7. Can you let me remote in and take a look: http://sluthra.x10.bz/remotesup/remotesupp.htm . I'll post the solution here if we find it.

Hi Sandeep,

I tried installing DragonMedical8 on Win7Pro 64 bit. It will install and run, but it is not usable. One mike had "low volume", another had a speech recognition score of 45 (18-21 is typical) but Dragon would not recognize any speech from this. Seems like the program has lots and lots of bugs on Win7. Do you still want to log in?

Hi Wendell,

Thanks for your thoughts. It takes a while to switch from XP mode to Win7, so to do this frequently would be most annoying.

Setting up a new PC with WinXPPro is looking better and better....

Thanks. Gene

Gene,
Not to overly complicate this, but I pretty successfully run Dragon 9.5 on a Win7Pro 32 bit machine, but could not get it to go on a 64 bit. You might consider setting up with Win7 32 bit. I make no promises, though.

Gene, have you thought of just shelling out the $1200 to upgrade to the newest version that works "natively" with EMRs, Dragon Medical 11.5? I have also used Dragon since version 8, and besides AC, it is the most important & essential software I use daily. Each version has improved in speed and accuracy, and version 11 runs well on 64 bit Win 7 Pro, with ability to utilize more memory, multicore CPUs -- all likely the benefits that you hoped for when you built a new computer. So why try to hobble along with 4-5 year old software?

My comments above are not meant to be in support of Nuance. I think that their policy of crippling Dragon versions 10 (& now 11) to make doctors buy the Medical version is predatory pricing. I even wrote to the NY Times columnist, David Pogue, to mention this after his positive review of Dragon 10 (to no effect).

Hi John,

Yes I have thought extensively about this. I have been reluctant for several reasons:

1. I use Preferred 9.5, my PA uses Medical 8. I do not believe either custom vocabulary or speech file would carry over. So we would be at the bottom of the learning curve.

2. I would have to pay full price, not upgrade price,from Medical 8. Expecially if we need 2 user licenses, that is a fair bit of money.

3. I really, really, really am reluctant to pay "extortion money" for the ability to use basically the same program with an EMR.

Having vented, how much better is the current Dragon Medical, compared to v8/9?

Thanks. Gene

Hi Jon,

I had been considering this, my main reluctance is the memory limitation, I am assuming 32 bit OS is still limited to under 4 gigs of memory?

Could you please elaborate on "pretty successfully"? Is it worse that XP Pro?

By the way, congrats on the Ravens season. That loss was a heartbreaker.....

Thanks. Gene

I think that you will see a significant improvement in both recognition and speed on your 64 bit i5 computer. I upgraded from 9.5 Preferred on a Core2Duo 32 bit Win XP to 64 bit Win 7 running on an i5 and 10 GB RAM, and dictate to type time is almost instantaneous. A number of annoying Dragon errors, such as crashes with Adobe Reader and the tendency to jump to Menu items when dictating in AC have been resolved. Also, training time is much less than with prior versions: most resellers tell you to just record a new voice model, not load your older user. You can transfer your personal dictionary for consultants names, etc.

If your PA uses older equipment, he/she will be less impressed.

You may want to buy a non-medical version of Dragon 11, and dictate a few letters and non-EMR tasks to see what the version 11 engine is worth (then give this version to your office manager or receptionist).

I understand your issue with the price. The street price for upgrade from 9.5 to 11 Medical will be around $600.

And Nuance is evil. But no more than dozens of other corporations that I regularly give my money to.

Hi John,

You are starting to convince me.

I cannot find Dragon Medical for less than $1599. The upgrade only works for v9 Medical or newer, I have v8.

Any leads for better price? Also on how many computers can Medical be installed?

Thanks. Gene

Just a brief look around the web, I see what you mean, no upgrades available from non-Medical version 9. Bummer. I found my discount available around the time the new version was rolled out.

You can install for up to 4 computers without calling Nuance to unlock it for more computers. I was able to install easily on 2 computers, using the same CD code. It is licensed per speaker, not per computer.