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Initiatives in Bangla computing |
| On February 24th 2005, Microsoft signed a MoU with the government of West Bengal. According to the agreement, Microsoft would assist the state |
| government to deploy the Bengali language interface for Windows and Microsoft Office across the government offices in the state. As part of this agreement Microsoft would also help the state setup a Bhasha Localization Lab at a premier educational institute in the State with the aim of promoting customized local language application development and building of a pool of dedicated and trained manpower to work on local language computing. |
IT minister Manab Mukherjee, departmental secretary G.D. Gautama and Microsoft India’s Ranjivjit Singh at the MoU-signing ceremony. Picture by Aranya Sen. |
Microsoft India would be making the necessary investment in hardware, software tools and training materials. The site of the lab would be decided by the West Bengal government. |
As part of this initiative Microsoft would also conduct training workshops for Government employees and technical training to independent software vendors to enable them to develop applications in Bengali. It is also working closely with the West Bengal government’s web portal. |
The language support in Windows and Office goes beyond providing fonts, but offer a comprehensive user experience. A preview of the Windows and the Office suite in Bengali was also held. To work in Bengali a user would be required to download a free language interface pack for both the operating system as well as the productivity suite. Bengali is the third language for which it is offering a complete interface. |
This initiative is part of the ongoing drive to accelerate development of local language computing and thereby increase the reach of information technology. | |
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