Free Software In Iran, KDE In Farsi

Elektroschock writes "KDE, the leading *nix desktop environment, is translated to Farsi (=Persian). Now native language KDE can be used in Iran as well. Farsi is written from left to right. Full story at Dot KDE. Arash Zeini (KDE Farsi) wrote an intresting article about FLOSS in Iran. His view: "It is not a secret anymore that FLOSS is gaining momentum all over the world. We witness an international move and acceptance of FLOSS in the private as well as in the public sector."" Update: 12/29 16:37 GMT by T : That should read "Farsi is written from right to left." (Thanks to Thomas Zander for pointing that out.)

Comments

Correction

[MntlChaos]

Farsi is written RIGHT to LEFT. not the other way around. fix please

what is FLOSS

[bhny]

http://www.flora.ca/floss.shtml

Re:Wrong-o

[Moridineas]

Don't mean to be a pedant--but Farsi is actually an Indo-European language--meaning it's related to Latin, German, Spanish, etc (and Hindi!). You can see this in some cognate words--mother in Farsi is madar, father is pedar, brother baradar, etc.

Arabic is a semitic language, related to Hebrew. In Arabic these words are very different. (My Arabic is weak but mother can be "umm," father "ab" .. very different).

Both languages do use the same basic script--the Arabic script, though Farsi does have several additional letters.

Re:Farsi is Right to Left

[1u3hr]

When the original algebra texts from Persia were translated, the translator kept the right to Left form of the numbers (little-endian).

Maybe so, but Roman numbers are also little-endian, and so are Chinese and Thai. I don't think it has anything to do with the way words are written, when speaking we say "one thousand five hundred and twenty one", and write the figures down in the same order -- it's natural to give the most important, biggest, part first.

So actually Arabic scripts are the exception, as not the origin, if you look at the sequence of writing.

Re:Wrong-o

[belmolis]

Here's the Ethnologue entry for
Farsi and its position
in the family tree. The Ethnologue is the best
single source for reliable information about where
languages are spoken, by how many people, etc.

Re:How to make a system bilingual?

[jrumney]

Windows does nothing of the sort.

Windows 98 requires dual boot for different languages, as different languages require a different install of Windows. Windows 2000 and XP can have different locales per user, which works for most third party software, but you are still stuck with one interface language for Windows itself unless you dual boot it.

Most X based systems will allow you to set the interface language from the login screen.

Re:Iran under sanctions?

[einhverfr]

The sanctions in question date back to the crisis in 1980. They are, to my knowledge, a US-only affair, but hey, in the words of W, "You'r either with us or against us."

The point is that FOSS contributions ignore national boundaries, and this is not illegal. Currently if I (a US citizen) sell the rights to a book I wrote to a Dutch company, they are not bound by US export law and can sell that book in Cuba and Iran... However, I cannot sell the rights to a Cuban company.