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Linux Localization And E-governance
BhondaiPola writes "The Telegraph has an interesting article about the works of a Bengali Linux localization group. The article speaks of the potential areas in which localization can be implemented, especially, E-governance. Most of the stuff is known to us, but the article should serve as a nice introductory article for anyone new to the issue.
And I liked the screenshots of the localized GNOME in the website of the group."
"Localized Gnome" would be a really good name for a band.
...
Wait a minute... no it wouldn't.
Internationalization was the major reason that made me switch to Gnome.
Thanks to im-ja I can switch freely between European (Brazilian Portuguese) and Japanese input in any GTK app, something I could do only in Emacs. Gnome-terminal can work with any encoding and switch them at runtime.
Prescriptive grammar:linguistics
Cool, early (first?) post. This raises an interesting question. If a lot of foreign countries start using Linux in their government like this article suggests, will the US follow suit? Answering my own question...probably not. After all, isn't this a pretty accurate idea?
Here's the article's text:
Bengali crosses desktop lingo barrier
ALOKANANDA GHOSH
Thinking global, going local
Calcutta, Dec. 7: You can now use the computer to chat, e-mail, browse the internet, access an archive of public domain works by Bengali writers and read the almanac (ponjika) in Bengali.
In the first successful project of localisation of Indian languages, Ankur, an initiative of a group of academicians, students, professionals, linguists and techies -- all volunteers and without any financial backing -- from India and Bangladesh, will bring Bengali to the desktop, based on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS).
A downloadable version of it that can present a basic-level desktop designed to perform functions equivalent to Microsoft Windows, will be posted on the Net tomorrow. The localisation efforts by Ankur will help millions of Bengali-speaking population access computing benefits through low-cost means.
Localisation is the process by which software and computing systems are adapted to a particular language and the specific cultural habits of a region. However, before the process of localisation can begin, the software has to be internationalised to support multiple languages and local customs.
"The local language framework makes it easier to take e-governance initiatives to the grassroot levels," Ankur member Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay said. "Government machinery and protocols can be best utilised through the local language and nuances, which can reach the largest number of people. The Ankur Bangla project covers all aspects of localisation. It aims to provide a 'Bengali computing experience', while creating a standard framework and infrastructure which makes computing scalable and economically deployable," he said.
Defined broadly, e-governance is the use of IT, communications and telecommunications to promote an efficient and effective government, facilitate access to government services, allow greater public access to information and empower people by making the government more accountable to citizens. The project may involve delivering services over the internet, telephone, community centres, wireless devices or other communication systems at reduced cost and increased productivity.
Ankur has been in talks with the Bengal government for the past six months. The group, however, did not get any projects from the state government.
"We have been approached by CBSE officials to use the project framework for digitisation of the syllabus to Bengali, using which they will tap the Bangladesh market," Indranil Dasgupta, founder of the Linux User Group in Calcutta, said. "Jadavpur University and the Forum of Scientists, Engineers and Technicians (Foset) are also in the process of adopting the Ankur framework for localised low-cost computers."
This, despite the fact that the government's much-flaunted government-to-citizen effort - Banglar Mukh (the face of Bengal) - has fallen flat on its face.
There's some in my neighbor's yard.
I'm worried; every day they seem to get a little closer, with their unblinking, hungry eyes...
Get off my launchpad!
It is the official language of the Indian State, West Bengal and has produced some great indian poets including Tagore who won a nobel prize for his poems Geetanjali".
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Yes, I know that you can get Windows in the major languagues but I wonder where does MS draw the line. For example, is there a Bengali version of Windows. I am guessing there is but the bigger picture is that Linux with its openness would allow anybody to localize the OS to their languauge. If somebody wanted to, you could make a Klingon or Elvish version of Linux. Why you would want to do that beyond the coolness factor is beyond me but the point is that you are pretty much a slave to MS in terms of localization.
You speak Xhosa or Bantu or some very minor language in a Third World country, do you think MS will cater to you. Most likely not. Linux can and will cater to you with a little bit of work. One more way to push Linux as a serious alternative to MS in developing countries.
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
I wouldn't call a software economy that's worth roughly $30/billion year, with $10 billion being outsourcing, to be merely "nascent." Unless, of course, you consider that in 2008, the Indian IT Ministry plans to have $50 billion in outsourcing (meaning: your students' jobs, and possibly yours as well) and $90 billion overall.
Indian Economy Report
Indian IT Plans
I'm surprised such Indian localizations weren't done sooner. Perhaps one day, we'll have to navigate them -- at its current growth rate, India will dominate the world in software roughly by the time this year's new CS students graduate.
Projects like this are really important. There is no Bengali support in Windows and so we are looking at this to provide Bengali in our environment.
Kinda like Zulu and Xhosa in South Africa - its not financially viable for Microsoft to write those locales in Windows.
Just another sign of the goodness in software freedom.
Nope - you just can't buy 333MHz packages anymore.
Blatantly nonfactual.
Theory was that the prices of computers would fall.
I don't recall anyone credible espousing such a theory. It's a rather ignorant idea... (Unless you're looking at it from a large enough scale where prices genuinely have fallen, which is the case over a 4+ year measurement)
It's true that marketing pressure causes people to replace computers unnessecarily. But the idea that "if not for greedy marketers, we'd all be buying new PIII 400mhz computers for $40" is completely unfounded.
It doesn't really cost all that much less, today, to built a 300mhz CPU than a 3000mhz one. Major R&D improvements were needed so that 3000mhz would even be possible... but now that the money's been spent, there'd be little financial incentive to continue building the slow ones. If some insane vendor wanted to build new 100mhz Pentium computers (from new parts, not leftovers) it would cost nearly as much as a new bargain-basement 1.4Ghz system. There's no meaningful savings from using the weaker stuff.
Look at the automobile market. A 1993 car is $1000, a 1997 is $5000, and a 2003 is $15000. The old stuff is cheaper... but there is no way a manufacturer could build a new car to 1993 standards for any less than a 2003 model.