Microsoft was involved in speech recognition and [[speech synthesis]] research for many years before WSR. In 1993, Microsoft hired [[Xuedong Huang]] from [[Carnegie Mellon University]] to lead its speech development efforts; the company's research led to the development of the [[Speech Application Programming Interface|Speech API]] (SAPI) introduced in 1994.<ref name="TalkingWindowsVista">{{cite web |url=http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163663.aspx |title=Exploring New Speech Recognition And Synthesis APIs In Windows Vista |last=Brown |first=Robert |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=MSDN Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307054756/http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163663.aspx |archive-date=March 7, 2008 |access-date=June 26, 2015}}</ref> Speech recognition had also been used in previous Microsoft products. [[Office XP]] and [[Microsoft Office 2003|Office 2003]] provided speech recognition capabilities among [[Internet Explorer]] and [[Microsoft Office]] applications;<ref name="SpeechXP">{{cite web |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306901 |title=How To Use Speech Recognition in Windows XP |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=Windows Support |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314222444/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306901 |archive-date=March 14, 2015 |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref> it also enabled limited speech functionality in [[Windows 98]], [[Windows MEMe]], [[Windows NT 4.0]], and [[Windows 2000]].<ref name="Description">{{cite web |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/278927 |title=Description of the speech recognition and handwriting recognition methods in Word 2002 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=Windows Support |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703125056/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/278927 |archive-date=July 3, 2015 |access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> [[Windows XP]] [[Windows XP editions#Tablet PC Edition|Tablet PC Edition]] 2002 included speech recognition capabilities with the Tablet PC Input Panel,<ref name="WindowsXPTabletPCEdition">{{cite web |url=http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-xp2/windows-xp-tablet-pc-edition-reviewed-127413 |title=Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Review |last=Thurrott |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Thurrott |date=June 25, 2002 |publisher=[[Penton (company)|Penton]] |work=[[Windows IT Pro]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719201607/http://winsupersite.com/article/windows-xp2/windows-xp-tablet-pc-edition-reviewed-127413 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Natural">{{cite web |url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/f/98f3fe47-dfc3-4e74-92a3-088782200fe7/TWDT05006_WinHEC05.ppt |title=Natural Input On Mobile PC Systems |last=Dresevic |first=Bodin |date=2005 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |format=PPT |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051214132222/http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/f/98f3fe47-dfc3-4e74-92a3-088782200fe7/TWDT05006_WinHEC05.ppt |archive-date=December 14, 2005 |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref> and [[Microsoft Plus!#Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP|Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP]] enabled voice commands for Windows Media Player.<ref name="VoiceCommand">{{cite web |url=http://winsupersite.com/article/product-review/plus-for-windows-xp-review |title=Plus! for Windows XP Review |last=Thurrott |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Thurrott |date=October 6, 2010 |publisher=[[Penton (company)|Penton]] |work=[[Windows IT Pro]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705102849/http://winsupersite.com/article/product-review/plus-for-windows-xp-review |archive-date=July 5, 2011 |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref> However, these all required installation of speech recognition as a separate component; before Windows Vista, Windows did not include integrated or extensive speech recognition.<ref name="Natural"/> [[Microsoft Office 2007|Office 2007]] and later versions rely on WSR for speech recognition services.<ref name="Office2007SR">{{cite web |url=https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-happened-to-speech-recognition-c6541b32-82df-4c18-bfa5-c411f45337d3 |title=What happened to speech recognition? |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |work=Office Support |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110044211/https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-happened-to-speech-recognition-c6541b32-82df-4c18-bfa5-c411f45337d3 |archive-date=November 10, 2016 |access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref>
