Some of the code in Siri originated from Mr. and Mrs. Baker's company, Dragon, which they eventually sold for stock options. Those options tragically turned out to be based on cooked-books and worth nothing, after completion of the sale guided by GS.
The ensuing legal battle continues, as do the fortunes of those who bought the remaining Dragon tech (Nuance, specifically) and licensed it to Apple et al.
The article says they sold for stock, not stock options. Even so, they should have sold for part or all cash. Taking stock that's not blue chip was foolish. However, we should bear in mind the times. It was 99, and the market was roaring ahead.
Siri was developed by SRI International, basically as the commercialization of the CALO project [0]. It was initially developed as an app, and was even available in the store. The project was then spun-off into a company, and the developers were working on versions for other platforms. Apple then bought the company, making it exclusively an iOS product and integrating it into the OS.
The voice recognition technology was indeed based on Nuance technology [1]. Nuance was also a spin-off from SRI.
EDIT: This was all after ScanSoft purchased Nuance, which means it had both Nuance and Dragon technology at the time. However, due to Nuance's history with SRI, I would lean towards that being the more likely option, if they hadn't been integrated by that point.
(I worked at SRI during the Siri spin-off time period, and worked with one of the Siri developers on another project.)
"Ensuing" in this context means after the the failed acquisition and bankruptcy (2001). "Continues" means it's still ongoing. And keep in mind the context of this article is 2012.
Some of the code in Siri originated from Mr. and Mrs. Baker's company, Dragon, which they eventually sold for stock options. Those options tragically turned out to be based on cooked-books and worth nothing, after completion of the sale guided by GS.
The ensuing legal battle continues, as do the fortunes of those who bought the remaining Dragon tech (Nuance, specifically) and licensed it to Apple et al.