The Hindu Business Line : Providing the link

IT'S all very well talking of `unity in diversity' with respect to India, but if only it were fully true of the technology scene too. For the fact is that Indians cannot use all technology in the language of their choice because there is, as yet, no standardisation of Indian languages.

"We are behind in this field by a long way. If information technology has to reach the grassroots, then work will have to start immediately on standardisation of the different Indian languages. The Indian Government has only now woken up to this,'' says Dr Cooper, Director, Modular Infotech Ltd, a company that is into this space.. Agreeing with him, Ravesh Gupta, Programme Manager, Localisation, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd, says people working with Times New Roman and Arial (fonts common with Windows) have difficulty in coordinating with each other even when working on the same project.

Each vendor has his own standards, with own fonts and keyboard, to meet specific requirements and this creates confusion in the user space.

The Indian Government has standardised the ASCII system (file storage code). Issues have been raised showcasing the drawbacks in the Unicode system and that while ASCII is an 8-bit code, Unicode is 2-bit, making even simple functions such as downloading files take time.

That's why Microsoft, he says, recently launched its offering developed specifically for the Indian market — Office Hindi. This product features a Hindi language interface and supports nine Indian languages, allowing users to operate Office applications in the language of their choice. This joins the other 12 languages, including Japanese, Chinese and German that the software is available in.

Ravesh says this software would allow users to create documents and communicate with others in their native language. .

Why has Microsoft gone in for this when there are already offerings such as Ankur by Modular Infotech, GIST (Graphics and Intelligence-based Script Technology) from the Centre for Advanced Development and Computing (CDAC), Webduniya and Samtech? Ravesh claims that Microsoft's Hindi suite is the only Office suite that has been developed on the Unicode system accepted by the Government, and hardware and software developers.

"Here, users do not need to know anything about how the technology works. All they need to do is use the applications." .

Microsoft's target customers include public sector undertakings, State Governments and the banking industry. The professional version offers multiple keyboard options and transliteration. Microsoft has also announced the availability of the book Office step-by-step in Hindi, Office online (a resource centre) in Hindi and a local clipart library.

Microsoft plans to launch four more Office suites in various languages by the end of the current calendar year, Ravesh says. What about pricing?

Ankur is priced at Rs 1,500 per user with word processor, spreadsheet and other interfaces. Ravesh says user interface isa factor that will have to be addressed as 40 per cent of India speaks Hindi and IT is not adopted only in the metros. Software developed for these users must bridge adoption barriers.

rsavitha@hotmail.com

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