The WebSpeech API Enables Voice Recognition and Speech Synthesis in the Browser

"The only downside of the Voice Recognition API is that it requires that you be online, probably because it does the actual recognition on a remote server. I’m not sure why since desktop computers are definitely powerful enough to do it all locally,"

Likely 2 reasons:

1. Local software would be easier to reverse engineer.

2. Local software would be more difficult to update with new algorithms.

Possible issues of tuning for one language vs multiple languages in local software might be a bear too.

This is seriously cool. I'm simultaneously excited about this possibly being a standard browser API, and worried that Google has an absurd advantage due to their control over data.

I wonder how Mozilla would implement this: provide basic recognition and let users choose a third party service to provide recognition, or perhaps strike a deal with a third party themselves? Or am I underestimating their ability to provide services like this?