Indian Language SW

Many applications and operating systems give you a choice of

languages they can be installed in. You’ll find everything from English,

French, Dutch, and Spanish to tough ones like Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, etc. It’s

surprising that none of the Indian languages feature in them, considering the

fact that Indian software developers are involved in them. I wonder whether the

700 odd languages spoken in this country have something to do with it.

Anyway, all is not lost. There was some progress this year

with the release of Microsoft Office South East Asian Edition, which had support

for Devnagri script. However, Leap still remains as the most popular Indian

language software.

Strangely, only two products–Leap and Shree-Lipi–managed

to reach the User’s Choice Club this year. Last year there were four products

in this category. The two that dropped out were Softek’s Akshar, and C-DAC’s

GIST, which at one time had become extremely popular. Leap managed some support

from the East and the West, whereas Shree-Lipi seems to be a choice down south.

The Indian language software segment still remains very

small. As there isn’t much awareness about this segment and the products

available in it, we didn’t get too many responses for the reasons for choosing

an Indian language software. Even though English is widely used by the Indian IT

community, the usage of Indian language software is necessary for PC penetration

to hit rural and urban India.

It’s been a small segment for several years now. However, as this year saw

a much higher growth in the IT industry, in terms of the variety of products,

next year looks hopeful for Indian language software. Who knows, maybe you’ll

be reading the next User’s Choice in an Indian language of your choice. n