Today (5/10) is the last day of the 18th week of 2008. Of those 18 weeks I've spent 10 of them on the road and 4 of the last 5 weeks were on the road. I'm tired of traveling and glad to be home for a while (I hope).
The only travel I have planned for sure is to be in Orlando for the two weeks of Tech-Ed 2008 where I'll be working the labs for Microsoft. So if you are attending then stop by the Unified Communications area and look me up.
The Florida area .Net development community will be conducting 'tweener' on the Saturday and Sunday between the two halves of Tech-Ed. I'll be there for that and possibly teaching a Speech Server class on Sunday. I'll blog more on this once the details are worked out. This is a free event so you should plan on attending.
One of the bad things about traveling so much is that my to-do list has really grown. This is just a short version of things I need to accomplish:
- Blog about why you shouldn't nest SpeechSequenceActivities
- Blog about why TurnStarting is not your friend.
- Work on a blog series about the different components of Speech Server. I want to take each Activity (or group of activities) and really cover them in depth. In addition to the writing that will require a lot of code experimenting and will be time consuming.
- Work on the Speech Server Showcase - I've seen some interest in this but no one has actually sent me their write-ups about their applications.
- Configure my Vonage line through my Dialogic Media Gateway.
- Write a Speech Server app to answer the phone at GotSpeech Central. I know I could just purchase an answering machine but that wouldn't be any fun.
There is probably a dozen other things that need doing but this is just the things that are highest on my list.
Thanks: Being on the road has limited the time I've been able to spend in the forums on GotSpeech. It is really awesome (but humbling) to see how well things carry on without me. I checked the site stats this morning as shown below and I was excited to see how active things have been. We have some very good speech server developers on this site and they are willing to share their experiences with others. That is what grows a community like GotSpeech as well as help grow Speech Server acceptance in the developer community. If people don't get tehir questions answered then they won't come back. I'm especially proud of the new threads/posts counts. The official Microsoft forum for Speech Server doesn't get anywhere near this much activity.
2,848 users have contributed to 3,178 threads and 3,611 posts.
In the past 24 hours, we have 4 new thread(s), 34 new post(s), and 6 new user(s).
I first heard of brigeSpeak a little over two years ago when I met Jon Poploskie at a Microsoft TAP event For speech Server 2007 (it's come a long way since October 2005). Jon and I became friends and have stayed in touch ever since and his company was one of the early supporters of GotSpeech. He recently sent me a link to a Speech Technology article about the Speech Server application that brigeSpeak has developed.
Since I've been blogging about showcasing applications developed with Speech Server I though it would be good to mention the bridgeSpeak article. You can read all about it here - http://www.speechtechmag.com/Articles/Editorial/Deployments/Automotive-Auto-Attendants-41418.aspx
It's less that 12 hours now before I leave for the Microsoft 2008 MVP Global Summit so my participation on GotSpeech will be limited next week as I will simply be too busy to get Internet access.
But the best thing about GotSpeech is that it doesn't really need me. The site has grown so that there are many knowledgeable speech developers that are always available to answer your questions.
So keep posting and I'll see you when I get back.
My recent post on what Microsoft must do to grow Speech Server created quite a stir. I think some people may have taken what I had to say the wrong way. I always have been and still am fully dedicated to Speech Server and its future. I've seen what is in store for OCS and Speech Server over the next couple of releases and it is exciting. There are good times ahead. Though I'm confident of the future I still think there are some things that can be done now and that is what I was trying to get across.
There are a lot of Speech Server applications (both 2004 & 2007) in production around the world taking and making thousands of call a day. What I want to do is to highlight those applications and make the world aware of where and how Speech Server is being used. To do that I will be standing up a Speech Server Showcase page as part of GotSpeech.net.
The showcase will allow companies and developers to highlight the applications that they have created using any version of Speech Server. To do this I will be collecting information over the next month while I get things up and ready. So if you want to be included and highlight your application then please email or send me the information below. I know some companies may not want to disclose all of this information but they can just disclose what they are comfortable with.
- Customer name
- What the app does
- A sample call flow recording
- The version of Speech Server used
- Who created and maintains the app
- Some call statistics - i.e. how many calls per hour or per day
- A small write up with anything you want to add about the app
To get things rolling I'm going to mention that Gold Systems has a demo line where you can interact with the applications that we have. That demo number is 866-212-4254. If you are new to Speech Server then you can call the number and interact with the Help Desk app, the V-Dialer and the PassWord Reset apps. This is not meant to be an advertisement for Gold Systems but I do know this number and am familiar with it so I'm using to to jump start things.*
Some people think that no one is using Speech Server and I know that is not true - there are literally thousands of applications out there either in production or in development.
This is your chance to do something to help promote Speech Server. Don't pass it up - send me the info and get your app into the Speech Server Showcase when it goes live.
*GotSpeech.net is completely independent and is not controlled by Gold Systems nor is it a marketing tool for Gold Systems . I am proud to be employed by Gold Systems but I make the decisions about the content on GotSpeech. While I may from time to time endorse something from different companies the fact still remains that I make the decisions and I can't be bought - GotSpeech will always be an independent voice for Speech Server.
The week of April 13 - 17 I'll be in Seattle for the 2008 MVP Global Summit. The Summit is a four day invitational event for Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Regional Directors (RDs) The Summit gives us a chance to:
- Connect with other MVPs and RDs
- Engage with Microsoft product managers
- Provide valuable feedback directly to Microsoft on its products and technologies.
The highlights this year include:
- Event closing technical discussion by Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect
- Keynote by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive officer
- Deep technical sessions by competency
- Cross-competency electives
- Highly dynamic and interactive sessions, designed based on Open Space Technology, where you’ll be able to define topics, attend, or even host
- Additional activities designed to promote networking and meet attendees' diverse informational and business needs
So in my best effort to "be there" for you guys I'm soliciting a list of questions you would like me to ask. I can't guarantee that I will be able to get answers for all of your questions and certainly not going to guarantee that you will be happy with the answers I do get. But GotSpeech exists to serve your needs and I'll try my best to get you the answers you need (and deserve).
So if you have a question (or feedback) then post it as a comment to this blog entry or email me directly.
Since OCS Speech Server 2007 is the current version of the product I've moved its forum to the top of the forums list. I just wanted you to know as I didn't want to confuse people.
So if you are used to going to the bottom of the forums list then don't do that any more. It is now at the top of the list.
Tip: the easiest way to view forum entries is to use the "Posts you have not read" link near the top of the right navbar.
Fix the licensing confusion
To be honest I'm not sure if the licensing scheme is flawed or not because I don't fully understand it. And I'm not alone in my confusion as it seems that a lot of people are confused about what they need to get properly licensed. Do you need licenses for outbound applications? What if callers aren't authenticating? What constitutes authentication for license purposes? What kind of licensing and how much will it cost to migrate an Speech Server 2004 app to the new platform?
There is also a lot of confusion about how Speech Server fits into the overall OCS picture. Just last week I received a call from someone who was interested in switching over to Speech Server for their platform but they had been told that to do that they would have to install all of OCS plus Exchange. He couldn't see why they needed to install Exchange and Unified Messaging when all he wanted was Speech Server. We spoke for several minutes and I got him on the right track but my point is that there shouldn't have been any confusion to start with.
Direct SIP connections to PBX/POTS
Currently the supported means of connecting to OCS 2007 Speech Server is through a media gateway (I'm not even considering the TIM/TIMC option). I know of two large companies that are implementing solutions using MSS 2007 and both want to do direct SIP connections between their Avaya PBX and Speech Server. Both of them have the necessary PBX hardware and software but this is not a supported architecture. I'll say it here in bold text Speech Server should be capable of a direct SIP connecting to a PBX or any SIP provider and be a supported configuration. If you follow the forums here on GotSpeech (or if I let you read the emails I get) then you would know that there is a lot of interest (and confusion) in setting up Speech Server this way. This isn't to say you can't do this or that it won't work but rather to say that it needs to be a supported configuration.
Fix the documentation
This should be as the help files (or at least mine) have been broken from the start. Too many times I have tried to look something up in the help files only to find that the links are broken. Or there is help but it doesn't include any sample code. I know Speech Server very well (though I don't know it all ) and when I need to look up something I want lots of explanation and a code sample. I want to be able to see what it does and how it works.
Open up the ASR
In order to gain wider acceptance I think that Microsoft needs to open Speech Server up so that third party applications can use its ASR/TTS engines. I realize it may sound counter productive to let others use your stuff but I believe that if it was open and others could use the ASR engine then it would create a migration path for moving those applications to C#. I think that Visual Studio and Windows Workflow is the best development platform currently available. I realize that aumtech has an MRCP connector but I think that the platform itself should allow this.
Promote Speech Server
I was the first and only Speech Server MVP (before we became part of OCS) and even though I'm now an OCS MVP it is still very near and dear to my heart. I talk about it and promote it every chance I get. I just wish Microsoft would do the same.
It seems that since Speech Server got rolled up into Office Communications Server that it has become like a *** stepchild. No one wants to talk about it. There is confusion about how to get it and how it fits into OCS. I can't count the number of people I've encountered that think you need to install OCS in order to install Speech Server. If you don't believe me then go to an OCS event and ask questions about Speech Server - everyone clams up. I know because I've been to 2 different OCS Ignite events (a 2 day event and a 5 day event) and I've tried asking questions only to get the cold shoulder. I know of two companies (not the same companies I mentioned above) that spend days trying to get answers from their Microsoft reps about how Speech Server fit in with no luck. One company couldn't even get an answer when they asked where they could get the install CDs.
I don't know what the problem is but I do know that Microsoft should really start promoting Speech Server if they expect the number of users to grow.
Okay, I've gone and stuck my neck out ont his one.. I've vented a little in this posting and may have even aggravated a few people. But I've been thinking about this for quite some time now and I finally decided to publish what I've been thinking and feeling. I love Speech Server and have staked my career on it. I've spent a lot of my own time and money promoting it by speaking and and helping others get started with Speech Server. I really want to see it grow and become more popular as I think it is the best IVR platform available. I don't allow Microsoft bashing in the blogs or forums on GotSpeech so I've thought long and hard about whether or not I should post this. In the end it came down to two simple facts - I've always allowed valid criticism and I think this just needed to be said.
If you agree with me or not I still want to hear what you have to say about this. If you have your own ideas on how to grow Speech Server then I would love to hear them too. If I've misunderstood anything or you think I've misrepresented anything then feel free to call me out on it.
I want to make it clear that these are my opinions and they may or may not be the opinions of my employer (I didn't ask them for their opinion).
Come out ant hear the "GotSpeech Guy" talk about developing speech applications using Windows Workflow.
It's March again and that means that it is time for the Orlando Code Camp. Every year about this time the Orlando .Net User Group hosts a code camp. Don't know what a code camp is? Well, it's a free one day learning event for programing professionals. The code camp focuses on .Net technologies and all of the sessions are presented by members of the development community. Real every day working developers sharing their expertise.
I'll be there giving a presentation entitled Building Speech Server Applications with Windows Workflow. So if you are in the Florida area then register at the link above and come on by.
I recently blogged about the Planning Toll for Office Communications Server 2007. Well the planning tool is now available and you can now download it here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=06793661-CD69-4490-BB4B-E97DD271209D&displaylang=en
You can read more about it in this blog post - http://gotspeech.net/blogs/marshallharrison/archive/2008/02/02/ocs-2007-planning-tool.aspx
One caveat - it requires the .NET Framework 3.5 and so don't install it on any box you are doing Speech Server development on as it will cause problems with the development environment (i.e. the red X issue).
Last Thursday afternoon at 4:26 PM in this thread I made my 1,000 post to the GotSpeech.Net forums. It's kind of hard to believe.
GotSpeech.Net first came on line early on the morning of March 11th 2006 though that fact wasn't made public. It wasn't until this post 5 days later that I consider the the site officially on line. I still look back on that "If you build it they will come" blog post as one of my favorites.
It is almost 2 years later and I'm continually surprised as how far things have come. As I write this we have 2,373 members that have contributed to 2,744 threads containing 3,099 separate posts (all of these numbers increased during the time it took me to write this). Things have far surpassed my wildest dreams of those early days.
We are the number 1 site on the Internet for Speech Server help. We have brought you news of major developments and have provided you with Jump Start training as well as the new eLearning training. Our forums are very active and we have built up a stable of bloggers that are committed to keeping you informed about what is happening with Speech Server. Every thing we do is to make things easier for you as a developer. I sincerely hope that in some small way we have succeeded. That we have truly helped you.
Things have come a long way in my career as GotSpeech has grown. I've made MVP two years in a row now and I have spoken at TechEd, user group meetings and code camps throughout Florida. I've conducted training classes and and mentored other developers. Some days GS really keeps me hopping and takes up lots of my time. Still things are just as exciting to me as they were when I first started. I don't have as much time to blog as I did in the beginning and my time for just playing or experimenting with the different features of Speech Server has shrunk considerably. I can only see things getting busier for me and GotSpeech.Net as the popularity of Speech Server grows. Still, I continue to have fun and enjoy what I do and I'm here for the long haul.
My future plans include a book deal for later this year (maybe the second time is a charm) and I would like to do more Speech Server training. I'll provide more details on the book once things are worked out and as for the training, if you or your team are interested in getting trained by "the gotspeech guy" then contact me.
When I started this blog entry I was just going to mention the 1,000th post but as I went along it sort of became a look back on who we are and what we have achieved. I was originally planning on an anniversary post but I guess I've done that a few days early. Oh well.
In closing I would like to thank everyone that has contributed during the last two years. Without your participation we wouldn't be where we are today.
I would also like to thank Brandon Tyler who has been my partner since the beginning. Work has often kept him silent but still he has been there in the background. Thanks man!
Yeah, that's right. I'm on the road again. I'll be teaching an OCS 2007 Speech Server class in Houston (actually just north of there in the Conroe area). I'll be there through Friday so if anyone is interested in meeting up with the "Gotspeech guy" and talking about Speech Server then shoot me a private email.
The next week I'll be back in Columbia SC. It seems that I'm living on the road a lot these days. I'm getting too old for this but it is nice to see so much interest in Speech Server.
Here at GotSpeech.Net we are continually striving to be your best resource for everything related to Speech Server. Way back in April of last year we brought you the Speech Server Jumpstart Training and now as we build on our reputation we are excited to host for you Microsoft’s OCS 2007 Speech Server eLearning.
This Microsoft training is based on Microsoft Silverlight and it is brimming with interactive content.
There are two main components in this training:
1) eLearning modules with clear interactive texts, animations and videos, explaining every aspect there is to know about developing Speech Server applications and their deployment. You can start or stop with the content at any time, watch the videos, go full screen and even get a printer friendly version of the content. So feel free to click on things or just hover the mouse over items to see what happens.
2) Lab exercises for the modules that are aimed at getting hands-on experience developing on Speech Server. These lab assignments are designed to run inside a Speech Server (2007) Virtual PC/Virtual Server hard drive image that should become available on http://www.microsoft.com/vhd in the coming months (together with Virtual Hard Drives of all other OCS server roles). We will of course post it here as soon as the image becomes available! But in the mean time I will see how I can extract those labs and make them available as separate downloads that can be run together with Visual Studio 2005 and the Speech Server (2007) Developer Edition.
Every module concludes with an interactive Self Test (it even keeps score for you) all designed to teach you all you need to know to get started with Speech Server..
So if you are not sure how to develop a concept grammar? Just click on the "Building Concept Grammars" link then set back and watch as the instructor takes you step-by-step through how to create one in Visual Studio.
Not sure how to setup a supervised transfer? Now you can find out how to do it by selecting the "Performing a Supervised Transfer" menu item and then clicking on the different blocks in the module. Want to see the code? All you have to do is click the "Code Example" tab.
Among other things you will find modules covering form filling dialogs, creating custom activities, controlling calls and even how to tune your application after it goes live. In fact this material covers pretty much everything you need to know to get started with Speech Server.
All this content is licensed to me by Microsoft so all you can enjoy this online experience free of cost, and we can build a strong developer community. Please let me know if you have any corrections or suggestions on how to improve the content and I will look for ways how to expand on this awesome start.
Please follow the link and start your learning experience now.
As always I welcome your feedback and comments.
Yes that's right, Gold Systems is hiring. This is your opportunity to work for a great company and work with a bunch of great developers on some really interesting stuff. Working with "the gotspeech guy" may be fun too (who knows?)..
If you are interested then check out Terry's blog entry or this link for all of the details
I know some of you are struggling to figure out server roles, the amount of capacity, the topology and other specifics of how to install OCS 2007 in your enterprise. Well hang in there a little longer because help is on the way.
For the last month or so I've been playing with a new Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Planning Tool. It is a limited beta (or maybe it's technically a pre-beta) but the tool has been awesome. It provides links to the the proper technical documents from TechNet along with links to the OCS Homepage, downloads and FAQ.
To use the tool you simply answer a series of question about the number of users in your organization, your archiving needs, whether or not you want federation or outside access and if you have multiple sites. It also wants to know if you will be doing things like on-premise web conferencing or enterprise voice as well as the number of calls per hour. Once you have answered all of the questions it give you a list of needed equipment along with a topology map to get you started. It will also link you to the necessary documents to implement your plan.
This screen shot below will give you an idea of what the results look like.
Note: The interface and features may change before the tool is released.
ScanSource is offering Dialogic Media Gateway Starter Kits at 50% off.
The discount comes with free training and support. You can read all of the details at the link above and there is an 800 number to call near the bottom of the page.
I've been very happy with my Dialogic gateway and I can recommend both the gateway and ScanSource
You had better hurry though as the offer is only available until March 31, 2008.