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I remember when the mouse first came to market. People had to learn a new and foreign way to interface with a computer. The new GUI concepts were one thing, but the mechanics of using the physical mouse were just, well, awful. People hated it, and they complained.

But the mouse you had to use. You had to master the click, double click, click and drag, drag and highlight. I remember seeing people dragging a mouse across their desks, off their mouse pads, up cubical walls. It was awkward and amusing. People ridiculed the mouse and said it would never be accepted.

The initial reaction to Siri was similar. Apple put a lot of hype out there, but in the real world Siri fell short. This doesn’t mean Siri is a useless interface that should be ignored. If the rumors about iOS 8 (and the next version of OS X) are true, big enhancements to Siri are coming. Siri also looks like it will be a big part of the much talked about iWatch.

I actually ignored Siri until a few weeks ago when I decided to dig in and try to make a go of it. It isn’t awful. It isn’t great, but it isn’t awful. Apple has made a lot of improvement to Siri since they launched it. The voice recognition is much improved and iOS 7 has improved the use of services like OpenTable, Wolfram Alpha, Yelp!, Twitter, as well as some basic device controls. All this really helps but you still need to use the interface.

First of all, it doesn’t feel natural — right now — to talk to your computer. (That’s weird in itself because most of us grew up watching movies and television shows with people talking to computers.) I find the most unnatural part being the pause before the iPhone responds to me (and the lack of eye contact from Siri).

Second, you can’t expect to do everything with Siri. It still can’t do some basic things like open a website or add a contact from your current location (Hopefully this gets better.) If you want to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, you’re in luck if that restaurant uses OpenTable. You can ask Siri to calculate a tip on any restaurant bill, but announcing that out loud could be awkward. Oh and like HAL she refused to open the pod bay doors.

The most common task I use Siri to do is set alarms and timers. It’s pretty easy and has gotten me used to bossing my phone around. At bedtime, I can tell Siri “Set early alarm” or “Set normal alarm” or “wake me up at 6” depending on my needs. I also set timers by saying, “Set timer for one hour fifteen minutes” (or whatever time I need). The clock was a pretty good starting point for me and Siri.

From there I moved on to creating meetings/events, sending messages, checking the weather forecast, and more. With use, I am getting use to Siri but she doesn’t do everything, and I don’t expect her to. Siri does do a lot more than what I am using and over time I can see doing more through this interface. Now please pardon me while I go watch some Star Trek so I can see how this is really supposed to work.

Brian Swanson is the managing partner of Inspironto LLC. He has spent more than 20 years taking up room on the bleeding edge of technology. When he isn’t working on his conversation skills with Siri, he enjoys reading, thinking, and discussing new tech.