Why We Don’t Care About Your Voice Command Innovation
Google Docs just announced a big update to their voice command system, and across the web people are praising it as an excellent development for the search giant’s empire. And although the thought of voice control for documents is interesting and intriguing, is it anything more than a novelty at this point?
Voice command has been around for many years now in phones and other applications, and while there is a lot of hype when a new voice activation product launches, the sizzle is often more than the substance. We have been able to use voice typing in Google Docs for about 6 months now, but didn’t have any editing capabilities. New editing features allow text size adjustments, add in lists, and the ability to move things around. While this all sounds great, who is actually going to use this?
I see the amazing helpfulness of voice command for someone who is unable to use their hands, but for people with both hands and all ten digits, the drawbacks and huge learning curve seems too steep to be convenient.
In general I don’t really get why I should care about voice command. First of all, you have to be in a space where there is no other sound interruptions for voice control to be worthwhile, which limits many places including open office environments and cafes. And then there is the question of accuracy. I don’t know about you but one out of three times when I attempt to use voice activation, I don’t get what I want. That is a pretty big failure rate.
“THIS SUCKS!”
So awesome job with beefing up your voice command system Google Docs, but I for one will not be bothering as my fingers are faster, more accurate, and I can type a blog (such as this) in a coffee shop without people staring at me like a freak because I’m talking out loud to my computer. Maybe one day when we are all in relationships with digital beings, and voice command is flawless I’ll finally switch over to voice activation. Until then, no thanks.
