Microsoft tries out beta speech

By Alun Williams

Posted on 31 Oct 2002 at 13:03

Microsoft has updated its .Net Speech family of products.

In a bid to make speech technology more mainstream, Microsoft has announced a new speech software SDK (software development kit), a Joint Development Program for larger businesses implanting speech-based applications and a technical preview of its .Net Speech platform.

New features of the SDK 1.0 beta 2 include an improved debugging console, a library of reusable speech controls, and improved conformance with World Wide Web Consortium standards for processing grammar - the Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) 1.0 specification. Full details of the SDK can be found on the Microsoft Web site.

The Joint Development Program (JDP) is for enterprise-scale businesses looking to building applications with the .Net Speech SDK on the Microsoft .NET Speech platform. Essentially, Microsoft will provide hand-holding for testing and deployment of apps on .Net.

The technical preview of the .NET Speech platform will give JDP participants early access to software and hardware components.

The announcements were made at the SpeechTEK International Exposition in New York yesterday. You can expect a further beta release of the Microsoft .Net Speech platform before the middle of 2003.