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Opera Gives Its Browser a Voice

Software will include IBM's ViaVoice voice recognition technology.

Gillian Law, IDG News Service

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Opera Software will include voice capabilities in its updated browser software, using IBM's embedded ViaVoice technology, the company says.

The upgraded browser, which will continue to be offered at no cost, will be available later this year, Opera in Oslo, Norway, says. Initially, it will offer support for ViaVoice in English only, but other languages may be developed in due course, Opera Chief Executive Officer Jon von Tetzchner says.

Voice capabilities could well become the preferred way of interacting with a computer, according to von Tetzchner. While it is obviously useful for people with disabilities, it will also be popular with many other users who prefer voice to using a keyboard and mouse, he says.

For the voice technology to work well, a Web page has to be created using X+V (XHTML+V, or Extensible Hypertext Markup Language and Voice), a proprietary specification for browsers in small and mobile devices backed by Opera, IBM, and Motorola.

The X+V specification has been developed by IBM, and is being considered as input for upcoming work from W3C's Voice Browser Working Group.

Formidable Competition

The X+V standard competes with the SALT (Speech Application Language Tags) specification being pushed by Microsoft, von Tetzchner says. SALT is used in Microsoft's Speech Server products, due to launch this week.

Asked whether X+V will gain support from developers who mainly design pages for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, by far the dominant browser software, von Tetzchner says he is confident that "we can drive things too."

"We get feedback from people saying they think [the voice-enabled browser] is great, and it's just another feature that sets Opera apart," he says. Eventually, von Tetzchner expects embedded voice to be used in devices such as in-car technology and cell phones.

One other possible use for voice is in presentations; speakers using Opera's Opera Show presentation software can simply tell the software to move to the next slide, rather than having to walk over to the keyboard and press 'Page down,' Opera says.

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