Do we have synthetic speech in WindowsXP yet?

[Dan Shafer]

This is a perfect example of why making a cross-platform tool is so 
hard that very few people who have attempted it have succeeded. Every 
OS, every platform, every deployment configuration is a moving target 
that the tool maker has to try to keep up with despite having 
absolutely no input into or control over how the makers of those 
substrates go about their business of innovation and development.

I suppose that every one of us could come up with a list of things that 
we wish Rev would do. High on my list, e.g., is the ability to have 
truly styled text and styled text editing in fields. One of my dream 
apps demands this. But creating such a tool that would work across just 
the three primary platforms -- Mac OS X, Windows XP, and the core 
distribution of Linux -- would be a HUGE undertaking. (I know; I've 
read specs for it from other developers). Does that mean I am ready or 
willing even to CONSIDER abandoning the best development tool I've ever 
seen for 90% of my work? Or does it mean that I acknowledge that no 
tool, no matter how good it is, will ALWAYS have holes, will always 
have applications for which it simply isn't suited, and either to 
choose not to develop applications for which my favorite tool isn't a 
good choice or find a different tool that will work for what I want to 
do?

So-called "real programmers" always have two or more languages in their 
tool box. I don't know of any tool that is ideally suited for all kinds 
of applications.

Those who say that if Rev doesn't implement this or that feature, 
they're going to abandon it and move to RealBASIC or some other tool 
are apparently committed to developing applications for which RunRev is 
not the best choice. I say we should wish those people Godspeed and 
send them on their way to a tool that WILL do what they want. Their 
departure isn't a signal that there is something fundamentally wrong 
with Rev, only an acknowledgment that Rev is like all other tools: 
great for a lot of things, not so good for some.

On the other hand, if the tool maker commits to making a particular 
technology or technique work within their tool across the supported 
platform set, then the company owes its developers one of two things: 
completion of the work in a satisfactory manner or a clear statement 
that it will either never happen or won't be a near-term priority. The 
only real mistake that can be made here, from my viewpoint, is for the 
company to try to hold on to developers whose needs it will not clearly 
be able to meet in a reasonable time horizon. This does everyone a 
disservice. (Note that I'm not saying that's happened here; I don't 
rely on synthetic speech for my applications so I am not aware of all 
the history and the issues.)

I now return you to your regularly scheduled conversation.


On Aug 25, 2004, at 10:27 AM, Roger.E.Eller at sealedair.com wrote:

> On Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:34:17, Barry Levine <themacguy at macosx.com>
> wrote:
>> Subject: RE: Do we have synthetic speech in WindowsXP yet?
>>
>> I'm at the tail end of two years using Rev and we haven't had speech 
>> on
>> WindowsXP. I'm getting ready to move to RealBasic simply because of 
>> this
>> issue. Frankly, I'm quite hesitant to pony up any more $$ for Rev if
> this
>> isn't fixed.
>
> It is very frustrating to see "key" features left behind for so long 
> just
> because Microsoft decided to move forward. If Apple had done the same
> thing, I would bet that RunRev would have made it work in the very next
> version. Asking the end user to downgrade their speech sdk as a 
> workaround
> is totally wrong!
>
> Roger Eller <roger.e.eller at sealedair.com>
>
> _______________________________________________
> use-revolution mailing list
> use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Shafer, Revolutionary
Author of  "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought"
http://www.revolutionpros.com for more info
Available at Runtime Revolution Store (http://www.runrev.com/RevPress)