Software with speech recognition

[Eiolon]

My brother-in-law was recently in a car accident and is (at least for them moment) paralyzed from the neck down. He cannot use his fingers to type on the computer. I am looking for software where he can say commands and have a laptop do things, such as:

Open Internet Explorer
Search Google
Go to URL: youtube.com
etc.

I know there is Dragon Naturally Speaking, but I am curious if there are any good alternatives I can look at before settling?

 

[Whatsisname]

Ask his doctor. There are existing packages out there for disabled people that include eye trackers and other equipment. The stuff is pretty expensive though but it may be covered by accident and health insurance.

It's good he's not permanently disabled.

 

[Joe Average]

Windows 7 has speech recognition built in that has surprisingly accurate results right from the start and only get better with usage. While not completely as full featured as something like Dragon Dictate or NaturallySpeaking are or can be, it most definitely is a very usable function in Windows 7 right out of the box, and worth putting time into training it. I use it with my laptop from time to time when I'm just sick of typing stuff and the onboard mic in the laptop works just fine (I don't own a headset mic at all).

Within a few minutes of first use, he could be controlling many aspects of the OS without issues, so definitely consider that an option while looking for something more "professional" and geared towards persons in such physical condition if required.

Wish him good luck for me as well for a fast (and full) recovery...