pkahn@meridian.ads.com (Phil Kahn) (11/23/88)
Last week, I posted a flame about why Apple won't support MacinTalk. This is a follow-up. The bottom line is that Apple doesn't own MacinTalk, and they've only supported it to the extent that they hacked on it a bit to run on a Mac. Everyone agrees that it doesn't generate very good speech anyway. Here's the rub. Apparently, it has not yet been firmly decided at Apple whether speech generation constitutes "system software" (since Apple is not a software house). If R&D decides it is in fact an important part of the Mac and its evolving interface, and it WILL SELL MACHINES, they will likely rework this problem. No time line has been mentioned to me. Seems like this strategy differs from the past "visionary" marketing approach taken at Apple. I guess that's what happens when you sell Macs like they're a Pepsi. Jeez, I'm starting to feel like Denise Caruso. Give me a button to push, and I'll press it. I just want a good, supported speech generator. phil...
jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) (11/30/88)
This is just an aside, but I wish Macintalk were more available for general use, and that it was improved. For one thing, it sure would be a lot more flexible, and take up less memory than using digitized sounds in HyperCard stacks! (and having talking stacks has a lot of potential, particularly for the educational market; from pre-school through grad school). Come on, Apple! Don't you realize there's a gold mine here waiting to be taken by you (or someone else if you dally to long)! As an aside, over Thanksgiving I took my Mac SE to a friend's home to demo it for them (I should get commissions from Apple for this). I showed them a package called "MacTalker 2.0" They have a 9-month old son, and we wanted to see if he would respond to the question "Andrew, how big are you?" by stretching his arms (his one neat trick right now) when the Mac asked him. Sure enough, he responded to the MacnTalk voice just as a Human voice. Can you imagine the potential a GOOD MACINTALK would offer to college students in psychology courses if it were bundled with the Mac's software , and could be used in a like manner? Think about it. Jim Collymore
jlc@atux01.UUCP (J. Collymore) (12/01/88)
To my earlier (rushed) posting of earlier today, I'd just like to add that there is a great deal of potential applications for MacinTalk for the academic environment in: education, languages, psychology, and as mentioned earlier by another poster, the visually impaired (something that I toyed with a little last year, and hope to be getting back to soon). Please, Apple, please include in the system software a MacinTalk driver! And, if possible, an application that offers: pitch control, volume control, words per minute control, voice choices (e.g., male voice, female voice, robotic voice), and special characters offering special sound effects (e.g., option S = siren, option H = high-low double-tone, option X = static, option A (placed before a phoneme) adding an accent either in volume or pitch or both so as to add stress to a syllable in a word (thus allowing potential for Macs used by others in foreign/non-english speaking countries). Again, Apple, don't miss this opportunity! Jim Collymore