I'm writing this column but not with my fingers typing away at the keyboard. Instead, I am talking to my iMac and it's writing for me!

Welcome to the 21st century.

There have been a number of voice dictation software programs on the market for quite some time. Most have limited accuracy and are not fast enough to keep up with your pace of talking (called continuous speech technology). You say one word, it types. Say another word, it types. You hope it understands what you said as you wait for it to appear on the monitor. Those dictation programs are painful to use. Hey, I took typing in high school, amid the heckles from my friends. I was the only male in the class, but I can type 60 plus words a minute -- and they can't.

IBM has put that all in the past. Last year, IBM released ViaVoice for the PC platform. Recently they got the Mac version out the door. I find it ironic that IBM has produced a Mac product that is simply one of the best software programs I have used in years.

ViaVoice comes with a headset with a microphone built in. It even has color coded plastic inserts that go into the headpiece so you can color code it with your flavor iMac. You can use other compatible headsets as well. At home, I use the iParrot by MacSense (www.macsense.com). The installation of the ViaVoice software takes a few minutes.

After you install the program you fire up a setup wizard that takes you through a few routines so the software can recognize your voice patterns. It takes about a half hour to completely train the software to recognize your voice and creates a personalize "voice module." I read a few paragraphs of Treasure Island. I figured if I could get through it and the software could recognize my voice patterns after that mouthful, it deserved a gold star. It did! In fact, it was so accurate I couldn't stop talking to my iMac. The more you talk to ViaVoice the better it gets in recognizing your speech, although as I said, it was literally100% accurate right out of the box.

You fire up the ViaVoice "SpeakPad," ViaVoice's native word processor, that is basically a clean slate for the words to appear on. You can control turning the microphone on or off simply by saying the word, "Microphone on/off." Then simply start talking. As you talk in your normal voice and pace the words appear on the SpeakPad. This is where you dictate, give commands, correct and edit everything with your voice.

There is list of various commands to perform things like go to the top of the page, or backspace, deleting the word you just said (simply say "scratch that."), and so on.

If you forget the commands, uttering "What Can I Say" will pop up another window with a list of all the commands. You can conduct all the basic word processing features such as bold face, change fonts, etc., on the SpeakPad. Correcting errors is done in the Correction Window (speak "Show Correction Window") where you can add words to your personal vocabulary and create macro shortcuts. You can create multiple voice modules for different work places (or other users). Your home environment is probably quieter than your work environment (not mine with three little boys).

Here's the real clincher. When you are done talking and proofing you can import your work into Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook Express (mail), AppleWorks' word processor, and Netscape (Messenger), simply by saying "Transfer Microsoft Word," or the name of the other programs. ViaVoice will open those applications and place the text in them automatically. It does not work for Wordperfect, which I prefer, but it's a minor inconvenience. You can copy and paste.

Why speak when you can type? ViaVoice is great for someone who has to type for a living but may have carpal tunnel or other repetitive disorders. It makes conducting research at the library a breeze. Stop wasting money on the copier. How many times have you copied several pages but only needed fragments from each? And let's face it, sometimes you are just plain tired and you have to get a memo done but the energy isn't there to type. Why, sit back and talk. Let ViaVoice do it for you.

There are versions for both PC and Mac. The average street price is under $80 which I find remarkable for a product this good. Purchase it at your favorite computer dealer, mail order catalog, or go to their web site at www.ibm.com. It gets both thumbs up from me.