[DECtalk] question about Kurzweil 1000 voices

[Isaac]

Openbook 9 works fine under windows 10
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Blake Roberts via Dectalk" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
To: "DECtalk" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Cc: "Blake Roberts" <BEarlRoberts at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 6:43 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] question about Kurzweil 1000 voices


> Don,
> 
> You made some great points regarding trials. It makes sense that I could 
> extend a trial period by instaling software on a different computer at 
> some future time.
> 
> 
> Yes, I am interested in OCR which has speech output. I own a 
> license/serial umber for a slightly old version of Abbyy FineReader 
> which functions on Windows 10. However, I prefer using OCR which can 
> talk on its own (self-voicing with no screen reader required).
> 
> 
> Hmm, I have two old OpenBook versions sitting in a shipping box. OB 
> version 8 was not compatible with Windows 10 when I updated my computer 
> from Windows 7 some years ago. After Kurzweil 1000 evaluation period is 
> near expiration, I might get the most recent OpenBook CD I possess and 
> see if the OpenBook disk (and associated serioal number) will work on 
> current version of Windows 10.
> 
> 
> Blake
> 
> 
> On 6/15/2021 9:23 PM, Don wrote:
>> On 6/15/2021 6:03 PM, Blake Roberts via Dectalk wrote:
>>> I also concur with what Jake McMahan wrote. I would like to point out 
>>> that the
>>> DecTalk list archives are publicly accesible, so anything posted here 
>>> could
>>> realistically be visible to anyone on the Internet for decades to come.
>>
>> Or, *today*. You have no way of knowing who is subscribed, reading via
>> Google, etc.
>>
>>> Regarding Kurzweil 1000: I currently plan to use James and Kurzweil 
>>> until
>>> shortly before the Kurzweil 1000 trial expires. I do not intend to 
>>> ever install
>>> illegal copies of NeoSpeech voices on my computer. That's my choice. 
>>> I know
>>> those voices are *not* free. The Kurzweil trial period enables me to 
>>> legally
>>> use James, Kate and Paul during the trial's duration period.
>>
>> Trials are a grey area. I've never seen a license say that trials
>> are limited to "one per customer". If my disk drive crashes (and
>> any memory of having installed a trial "disappears"), when I
>> reinstall Windows, why can't I reinstall the trial, AGAIN?
>>
>> If I have ten computers, can I install the trial on each of
>> them -- successively (as the trial for one expires, install a
>> new trial on another machine)?
>>
>> Trials are an honest attempt to let you get a REAL feel for what the
>> product can do. "Demos" are often too contrived to let you see
>> how it will address YOUR needs. The folks making trial versions
>> of their products know that there are ways around the limitations
>> imposed by the trial. But, they hope it is just too inconvenient
>> to try to work around the limitations -- if you're really interested
>> in the product (enough that you are willing to go to those lengths
>> to work around the trial's limitations), then why not just buy it?
>>
>> Imagine wanting to compare performance of product A to a similar
>> product B. It takes some time to be learn to USE product A proficiently.
>> Likewise, to learn about product B. Whichever one you try first will
>> likely have expired before you get around to trying the other.
>>
>> So, being able to reinstall *both* -- after you've got an idea as
>> to how to use them -- lets you do a meaningful comparison after
>> you are up to speed. Legal? <shrug> But, it is within the
>> SPIRIT of the trials' intents! (to evaluate against competitors)
>>
>>> Since Kurzweil costs as much as OpenBook (a competing optical character
>>> recognition product which does not have NeoSpeech voices), I might 
>>> not buy
>>> Kurzweil 1000 for $995. But I definitely like all three NeoSpeech 
>>> voices.
>>
>> There are many OCR packages available. But, I suspect you want the
>> text automatically fed to a synthesizer and not just stored in a file.
>>
>>
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