PEABODY, Mass., October 10, 2002 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, announced today that it has joined the Microsoft Tablet PC Platform initiative.

ScanSoft will enhance its popular desktop productivity applications with features that highlight the unique capabilities of the Windows Powered Tablet PC. In addition, to help accelerate the integration of speech into third-party applications, ScanSoft will make its text-to-speech (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) developer tools readily available to Tablet PC programmers.

"ScanSoft will integrate Tablet PC capabilities into its innovative applications allowing knowledge workers to use their PC in new and different ways," said Alexandra Loeb, vice president of the Microsoft Tablet PC division. "We are excited to work with ScanSoft and others to ensure the worldwide success of the Tablet PC."

ScanSoft is integrating the powerful capabilities of the Windows XP for Tablet PC operating system into a number of the company's popular office productivity applications and developer toolkits. These capabilities include:

Enabling handwritten and speech-based electronic form filling through ScanSoft® OmniForm® XML Forms

Extending the popular ScanSoft® PaperPort® digital paper management application to allow Tablet PC users to organize, use and share hand-written notes in the Microsoft Windows Journal utility.

Delivering the ScanSoft® ASR Embedded Development System with support for the Tablet PC, allowing application developers to add speaker-independent and "microphone-free" voice command capabilities to their applications, which is important for multimodal applications.

Delivering the RealSpeak™ SDK with support for the Tablet PC, allowing application developers to quickly add high-quality TTS capabilities to their applications, which is important for multimodal applications and for Section 508 accessibility.

"The Tablet PC is the right product at the right time. Its form-factor and wireless network capabilities are exactly what is needed for connecting knowledge workers - with information, and with each other," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer for ScanSoft. "Our products and the Tablet PC are perfectly aligned to deliver the maximum productivity benefits to organizations and knowledge workers worldwide. We are pleased to expand our relationship with Microsoft to enhance the value and level of productivity delivered by the Tablet PC."

OmniForm and the Tablet PC

ScanSoft OmniForm, the market-leading solution for instantly converting paper forms into XML, HTML or PDF fill-able forms, will be enhanced with a number of Tablet PC capabilities. First, OmniForm XML forms will allow users to complete online forms by hand, using the highly accurate handwriting recognition capabilities built into Windows XP for Tablet PC. Second, OmniForm XML forms will allow users to navigate and complete electronic forms using speech recognition. Finally, the OmniForm XML design environment will publish blank forms that can be stored in content management systems, providing Tablet PC users instant network access to blank forms using the wireless capabilities of the Tablet PC.

The integration of Tablet PC features with OmniForm XML Forms will give organizations unmatched mobility and productivity when using forms. Users will be able to access blank forms from standard Web- and network-based repositories, easily print or complete forms using a keyboard, handprint or speech and route forms using email. The integration of OmniForm XML Forms with the Tablet PC is innovative and significant, especially in light of industry studies showing that electronic forms can save up to $150 per form transaction when compared to paper forms.

PaperPort and the Tablet PC

ScanSoft PaperPort is used by millions to scan, organize and share paper and digital documents. The application includes powerful document management features, including built-in support for popular application formats, and a search engine that finds both digital and scanned documents using standard text-search queries. Perhaps most popular is PaperPort's Visual Document Desktop environment, which lets users organize, use and share all standard PC files using a drag & drop thumbnail interface.

PaperPort will be enhanced for the Tablet PC to support the new Microsoft Journal utility, which allows users to create digital notes using handwriting on the Tablet PC. PaperPort will extend its Visual Document Desktop to support organizing and sharing Journal notes. PaperPort will also provide drag & drop tools for organizing and virtually stacking digital photographs.

Utilizing the wireless connectivity that many Tablet PC's will provide, users will be able to see their scanned documents in PaperPort as they use MFP and digital copier devices. The wireless network scanning capability of the Tablet PC is significantly enhanced with PaperPort, as it adds image clean-up, de-skewing and scan-to-email capabilities to the device.

ASR Embedded Development System and the Tablet PC

ScanSoft is boosting the built-in speech capabilities of the Tablet PC with the ASR Embedded Development System, which can be used by developers to quickly add voice-control to their applications. Where the speech recognition that comes with the Tablet PC is speaker-dependent and requires a high-quality plug-in microphone, applications using the ScanSoft ASR toolkit is speaker-independent and works with the microphone that is built-into Tablet PC devices.

Speaker-independent ASR enhances user interaction with Tablet PC applications, and can be implemented to listen for specific responses at any point in time. The ASR Embedded Development System includes rapid application development tools that simplify the integration of voice control with applications.

RealSpeak PC/Multimedia SDK and the Tablet PC

ScanSoft RealSpeak is the market-leading solution for adding synthesized human speech to applications. The RealSpeak PC/Multimedia SDK allows developers of Tablet PC applications to use the built-in speakers of the device to deliver speech-based prompts, dialogs and help. Especially valuable for maximizing the limited screen space on the Tablet PC, and enhancing user interaction, live demonstrations of TTS are available at www.ScanSoft.com/RealSpeak.

Available in up to 19 languages and in telephony, PC/multimedia, PDA, mobile and chip configurations, the RealSpeak SDK family supports Microsoft SAPI-5 and ScanSoft's cross-platform PAPI application programming interface.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes - saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service. For more information regarding ScanSoft products and technologies, please visit www.ScanSoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, the ScanSoft logo, OmniForm, RealSpeak, and PaperPort are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company or product names mentioned may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in the Company's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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