Microsoft teases real-time Skype voice translations, to launch on Windows first

2

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 50
    mrsneezymrsneezy Posts: 47member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Yeah, never heard anyone in any industry use it in that case. Long cycle announcements become vaporware when they don’t show. Not before.

     

    In your world, the iPhone was vaporware.


    A product or announcement is vaporware until it is released to the intended customer. in other words they are selling hot air.  

     

    Can you get this product today? No

     

    The iPhone was until it was released vaporware but it is a physical product I own now and therefor not vaporware anymore.

     

    The difference is Apple is Trusted by the public that when they announce something that it will be released. Microsoft on the other hand is at the other end of the trust spectrum.

     

    In this case they are stating purchase windows because we are going to release this awesome product later in the year as it will only work on windows.

  • Reply 22 of 50
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Still fairly close in his estimates (maybe 5-6 years off):

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil
  • Reply 23 of 50
    jgutherjguther Posts: 97member
    Understanding the meaning of a sentence is necessary before you can translate it properly. This technology does not exist yet, and maybe it never will.

    Machine translation today is useful for isolated words and phrases, not for conversations or any other text of substantial length.

    Professional translators use software to ensure consistency, to look up words, to help with terminology, and sometimes to create a rough draft. They do NOT use it to translate a text from one language into another.

    Try Google translate on a page - translate it from English to German and then back to English. You'll be surprised. Complete garbage.
  • Reply 24 of 50
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

     

    As cool as their take on the Star Trek "universal translator" could be (assuming it works better than other language manglers translators), launching on Windows is not enough to get me to use Windows again (never again, if I can help it).

     


     

    Nothing compares to the Babel Fish!

  • Reply 25 of 50
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MRsneezy View Post

     

     

    lets agree to disagree


     

    You don't know Tallest Skil very well, do you?

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    No, let’s teach you what vaporware actually is.


     

    @MRsneezy, now you do!

  • Reply 26 of 50
    mrsneezymrsneezy Posts: 47member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post

     

     

    You don't know Tallest Skil very well, do you?

     

     

    @MRsneezy, now you do!


    it is interesting he stated he wanted to teach me what the true definition of vaporware was but never gave a definition or quoted a source. funny that I have.

  • Reply 27 of 50
    But will it work, other than in a demo? No
  • Reply 28 of 50
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by yoyo2222 View Post



    That will make it easier for the NSA.

     

    I logged in because I was going to post the very same thing.

  • Reply 29 of 50
    weejockweejock Posts: 32member
    mrsneezy wrote: »
    it is interesting he stated he wanted to teach me what the true definition of vaporware was but never gave a definition or quoted a source. funny that I have.

    Sure, because an open, publicly-editable source is the most reliable thing to use to back up the point you want to make.

    You're also only taking one of the three definitions that Wikipedia mentions in the opening paragraph, and deliberately ignoring the other two (which contradict your point). You may as well quote urban dictionary.
  • Reply 30 of 50
    weejockweejock Posts: 32member
    Anyway, to come crashing back to the point at hand...

    As several people have said, automated translation is pretty rubbish (although hilarious - anybody been to China and used a machine-translated menu?) but the part of this that sounds interesting is Microsoft's aspirations to harvest data from Skype conversations to improve accuracy in the long term.

    Obviously, there are many privacy issues to discuss here, but what I'm interested in is the idea that maybe artificial intelligence could be used to basically learn a language. Apple, google and Microsoft are all working on exciting technologies and, whilst this won't be a Universal Translator overnight, it might be a step in the right direction.
  • Reply 31 of 50
    appexappex Posts: 687member

    The problem with automatic translation is simple: it does not work. Because it needs real artificial intelligence (the machine must understand the meaning). The HAL utopia will arrive eventually, but not yet. This is just a promotional plot from Microsoft.

  • Reply 32 of 50
    pinolopinolo Posts: 91member
    Everybody is still working on proper translators for written sentences (google is tragic in this regard). It might work for business talk but I doubt it will for more intimate conversations
  • Reply 33 of 50
    imatimat Posts: 208member

    Example:

     

    In english one applies the term "history" both for "history as in history channel" and "history as in browse "history"".

     

    In italian you use the term history for "history channel" and chronology for "browser chronology".

     

    My Apple tv therefore translates "History Channel" as "Chronology Channel" in the italian version.... 

     

     

    ...

  • Reply 34 of 50
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

     

    As cool as their take on the Star Trek "universal translator" could be (assuming it works better than other language manglers translators), launching on Windows is not enough to get me to use Windows again (never again, if I can help it).

     

    But, good on Microsoft for creating something innovative. After all Google Apple needs competition. ;) 


    I think you should have done a strike-through on Apple instead.  Since Google's Translation tech is far superior to anything else i've tried.

    Apple has shown zero interest in translation software.  Which is sad since if you want to change the world this would be a great way to do it.  Build it into your web browser, email client, iMessage.  Google's is by far not perfect but it's better than anything else i've seen and they integrate it into many of their core services.  Hat's off to MS *IF* it ever ships.  Problem with Apple showing no interest (my guess) is that they can't make money off it.  All their core services are free except for iCloud storage.  And Translation software is no easy or cheap task.  They are so behind in services it really kills me why they don't care.  Google had web apps for nearly a decade before iCloud.com.  Same with maps, cloud sync. etc.  They really need to focus on this.

  • Reply 35 of 50
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post





    According to those present for the demonstration, there was little to no delay in Skype's translation between English-to-German or German-to-English, but accuracy was spotty. Pall noted that Microsoft wanted each person to finish speaking so audience members could hear the machine translation.



     

    Another good reason is that it's pretty much impossible otherwise. German tends to have the verbs at the end of the sentence, so in most cases you'd have to wait for the end of the sentence before you can translate into English, since English isn't structured the same way.

  • Reply 36 of 50
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by MRsneezy View Post

    A product or announcement is vaporware until it is released to the intended customer. 

     

    No, that’s completely psychotic. The word ‘vaporware’ has never been used in that context. You are completely wrong.

     

    Originally Posted by MRsneezy View Post

    it is interesting he stated he wanted to teach me what the true definition of vaporware was but never gave a definition or quoted a source. funny that I have.

     

    Yes, you gave the right definition already. That’s why I didn’t waste my time doing the same. You simply refuse to accept the right definition and therefore look like a complete fool.

  • Reply 37 of 50
    djames4242djames4242 Posts: 651member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Um they actually showed this off at the Code conference and said it was coming later this year. What exactly is vaporware about it? I want to know when we'll see this with FaceTime.

     

    They did the exact same thing with Courier a number of years ago. That got loads of people excited, yet the product never materialised.

  • Reply 38 of 50
    Incorrect nomenclature is being used in identifying the technology.
    In the field of language, "translation" refers to operating upon written text to create the same meaning in another language, operating on whole sentences or passages. "Interpreting" refers to operating upon spoken language to convey the meaning in another language, operating upon fragments at a time. Those who work in the field are very sensitive to misuse of the terminologies.
  • Reply 39 of 50
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    antkm1 wrote: »
     
    As cool as their take on the Star Trek "universal translator" could be (assuming it works better than other language manglers translators), launching on Windows is not enough to get me to use Windows again (never again, if I can help it).

    But, good on Microsoft for creating something innovative. After all Google Apple needs competition. ;)  
    I think you should have done a strike-through on Apple instead.  Since Google's Translation tech is far superior to anything else i've tried.
    Apple has shown zero interest in translation software.  Which is sad since if you want to change the world this would be a great way to do it.  Build it into your web browser, email client, iMessage.  Google's is by far not perfect but it's better than anything else i've seen and they integrate it into many of their core services.  Hat's off to MS *IF* it ever ships.  Problem with Apple showing no interest (my guess) is that they can't make money off it.  All their core services are free except for iCloud storage.  And Translation software is no easy or cheap task.  They are so behind in services it really kills me why they don't care.  Google had web apps for nearly a decade before iCloud.com.  Same with maps, cloud sync. etc.  They really need to focus on this.

    No need for translation language to change the world. Just learn English. Problem solved.
  • Reply 40 of 50
    benjamin frostbenjamin frost Posts: 7,203member
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">A product or announcement is vaporware until it is released to the intended customer. </span>

    No, that’s completely psychotic. The word ‘vaporware’ has never been used in that context. You are completely wrong.
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">it is interesting he stated he wanted to teach me what the true definition of vaporware was but never gave a definition or quoted a source. funny that I have.</span>

    Yes, you gave the right definition already. That’s why I didn’t waste my time doing the same. You simply refuse to accept the right definition and therefore look like a complete fool.

    Exactly. The definition of vapourware is very simple: Apple doesn't do it, Microsoft does. End of discussion.
Sign In or Register to comment.