{The Wall Street Journal, 21-Dec-92, p. B1}

The systems are still cumbersome, expensive and a little unnatural to us. But the best of the newer systems are highly accurate and can type 70 words a minute or more. Growing numbers of people say these systems are better than typing and cheaper than a secretary.

Next week, IBM, which has been working to develop a voice-activated computer for more than 20 years, will start selling its first such product, the Speech Server, which is designed to be shared by a large number of people on a computer network. Early users include IBM's senior VP James Cannavino and several of his top staffers who respond to their electronic mail using the system.

Speech Saver works on a RS/6000 workstation that has a base price of $10,000 and the speech portion costs an additional $5,000 to $10,000 apiece for network users, up to eight of whom can dictate simultaneously.