Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 18:37:24 +0530
From: Subbiah Arunachalam
CDAC to launch software tools in seven Indian languages
Sapna Agarwal / Mumbai/ Pune=A0December 07, 2006
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) is all set to launc=
h software tools in Punjabi, Marathi, Malyalam, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali =
and Oriya by March 2007.
=A0
The company had launched Hindi, Tamil, Telgu and Urdu regional language sof=
tware tools in 2005.
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=93The new software incorporates customer requirements for a localised vers=
ion of open source software for email client, multi protocol messenger, bro=
wser and office suite besides a content management tool. It contains the st=
andard key board drivers, text speech and converters to change from true ty=
pe to open type fonts. A new feature called queters, a =91Do It Yourself=92=
software kit to increase speed of typing, has been introduced and even the=
terminology is a mix of layman and purists, as against only purists termin=
ology,=94 said S Ramakrishnan, director general, CDAC.
=A0
Mahesh Kulkarni, group coordinator,CDAC, Graphics and Intelligence-based Sc=
ript Technology (GIST), said, =93The launch date was advanced from the firs=
t quarter of 2006 to 2007 to incorporate user feedback in making the softwa=
re more user friendly.=94 GIST is a technology that facilitates the use of =
Indian languages in IT.
=A0
The regional language software development initiative comes under the Techn=
ology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) project of Department of Info=
rmation Technology (DIT), Government of India under which CDAC is an aggreg=
ator bringing together the work of different organisations under one umbrel=
la.
=A0
It is working with CK Technology, Modular Infotech, The Indian Institutes o=
f Technology=92s (IITs) Kanpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai, Microsoft, Google and=
IBM.
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CDAC is a part of a nation wide consortium of 25 institutions for undertaki=
ng R&D in regional languages. The consortium is working on four projects re=
lated to regional text translation and recognition.
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=93We are in advanced stages of development on these technologies,=94 said =
Ramakrishnan adding that they have accelerated their focus on developing th=
ese technologies this year.
=A0
Ramakrishnan hopes to bag a Rs 8 crore project for voice-based multi lingua=
l information access (V-MIA) railway reservation system.
=A0
=93The project is in the final stages of approval by the DIT and Department=
of Science and Technology and we will work in a consortium with other inst=
itutions to develop the voice-to-voice information access system for the ra=
ilways,=94 he said.
