IT TRENDS
Let us salute the Linux localisers
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Linux distributions for the consumer desktop may be imperfect; but Indian developers have already created some compelling applications, especially in local languages.
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THE PREVIOUS edition of this column surveyed the options available to lay computer users who wanted to install one of the Linux distributions on their desktop. The report card clearly read "Could do better!" — most of the commercially available Linux desktop offerings fell short when it came to recognising the range of peripherals that the average user would like to install: printers, modems, webcams, CD and DVD drives...
However even as the Redhats, the SUSEs and the Sun Javas of the Open Source distribution business are getting their act together, application developers who create the compelling content that sits on top of the Linux bedrock have not been idle. India has been, a prolific place when it comes to creating Linux tools and applications, particularly when it comes to Indian language computing.
Indeed the combination of increasingly affordable desktop and laptop hardware with an open source operating system may well lower the threshold of entry and enable thousands of potential users to enjoy the benefits of PC and Internet in the language with which they are most comfortable — their mother tongue.
Ware from CDAC
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) was, of course, the pioneer in kick starting Indian language computing with its GIST card and LEAP software. More recently, it has launched a Janabhaarati project aimed at creating a software suite in Indian languages based on GNU/Linux.
The project is funded by the Technology Development in Indian Languages (TDIL) group in the Union Department of Information Technology. After the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) in Mumbai, came under the CDAC wing, Open Office localization there has taken the shape of the BharateeyaOO.o (for OpenOffice.org), offering, currently, a Hindi plus Tamil release.
After Linux releases became more easily available, there have been some noteworthy private initiatives. Indlinux.org represents a group of Linux `premis' who have been localising the user interface of Linux in many of the 18 official Indian languages. Another recent achievement can be traced to Anna University, where a team at the K.B. Chandrasekhar Research Centre has developed a multilingual search engine in regional languages — initially in Tamil and English. Called `Kazhugu' (eagle), it is being tested at the Sify portal of Satyam and will become available once it has been refined.
Thamizha, a Malaysia-based project, has made the Mozilla web browser available in Tamil and is also working a Tamil version of the Open Office suite. Well-known writer `Sujatha' has taken the lead in what is known as the Tamil PC project. The aim is to bring out a full-fledged Tamil Linux Computer.
From the East comes the Ankurbangla.org initiative to put Bengali on the Linux map — an initiative of the Indic Computing Consortium. And in Maharashtra, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Indictrans have joined hands to create the `Gargi' open type font in Devanagri and `Padmaa' in Gujarati. Indictrans has also created a bootable CD version of a 4-language Linux operating system, GNUBharati, based on a Debian Linux release.
Open source type font
Malayalam language computing received a fillip: the `Rachana' open source type font became available earlier this year. The Swatantra Malayalam Computing organisation has taken a lead role in growing open source computing in the state, while the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (CDIT) has a dedicated group focused on delivering open source tools and software to support the government's e-learning and e-gov thrust.
An excellent summary of Linux work in Indian languages by Nilesh Kakade, can be seen in the April 2004 issue of Linux For You. The magazine recently reported on the efforts of engineering students to create Punlinux, a Punjabi Linux offering using the Fedora core.
The `Shakthi' office suite created by CK Technologies (formerly Chennai Kavigal) a young group supported by IIT Madras has quickly gained acceptance in both corporate and among individuals as an affordable alternative to Windows-based.
A crack team is working on a Linux version, which, says CEO Manoj Annadurai, should be available in the first quarter if 2005. Meanwhile another innovative product from a Chennai-based company, ETI India, has proved that Linux can be a robust environment for a full slate of office routines and applications. Their e:Office Suite goes far beyond a conventional word processor-spreadsheet- presentation-emailer combo.
Proof of the pudding
Indeed so successful has the product (based on Redhat Linux) become in neighbouring markets that CEO Samuel Martyn James, today shuttles between India and Malaysia, where they have floated a Kuala Lumpur-based subsidiary, JM Intech. I recently `test-drove' the product and it is truly a crossover product, bridging the gap between consumer and enterprise computing — and doing it the Open Source way.
So let's say our salutations to desi developers who are proving that when it is a matter of coming out in the `open', Indian can do IT.
Anand Parthasarathy
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