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Sankar Radhakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram , Dec. 23

AS part of its `Project Bhasha' initiative to promote local language computing in India, Microsoft will unveil `full' Hindi versions of its Windows XP operating system and Office 2003 software early next year.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sanjiv Mathur, Group Manager, Customer and Partner Experience, Microsoft India, said that the company would then look at introducing its software in other Indian languages.

Malayalam and Bengali versions of the Windows XP system will, in all probability, follow the Hindi version of the product, he added.

Refusing to fix a specific date for the launch of the Malayalam and Bengali versions of Windows XP, he said that the company wanted to unveil these products at the earliest.

Much of the work on the development of Indian language versions of the company's software will be carried out in partnership with State Governments, local developers and other stakeholders, Mr Mathur said.

Meanwhile, the company is in the midst of implementing its project to take IT to the grassroots.

Christened `Shiksha', this initiative is intended to spread IT literacy by targeting teachers and school children, Mr Mathur said.

The project, which will eventually cover 10 States, will reach out to an estimated 80,000 schoolteachers and some 3.5 million students over a five-year period, he added.

According to him, the idea behind the `Shiksha' project is to introduce teachers and students to the essentials of computing.

While the project's curriculum will developed in consultation with the education department of each State, it will be "linked to what the children actually do at school".

As part of the project, the company will set up `Technology Centres' in each of the 10 States.

These centres will function as hubs, and will facilitate the development of the `Shiksha' curriculum and also put in place the infrastructure required for the project.

The project has already been unveiled in Uttaranchal, Mr Mathur said.

In the first phase of the project, the company is targeting states such as Kerala and Punjab.

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