MUMBAI: Red Hat, the world's leading provider of open source to the enterprise, today announced in Infocom 2004, Kolkata, that Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4.0 scheduled for release in February 2005 will support Bangla. Red Hat also demonstrated the beta version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux in Bangla the event.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bangla version will include productivity applications such as office suite with a word processor, spread sheet, presentation tool as well as a Web browser and an e-mail client. With the availability of these applications users can share the digitised text in Bangla, across platforms which support Unicode. The Bangla version will also feature the Gnome desktop with localized Red Hat tools for system administration, which make tasks like adding printers, connecting to Internet etc. possible through the local language interface. The installation guide will also be in Bangla.
At the occassion, Manabendra Mukherjee, Minister In-charge, Department of Information Technology, Government of West Bengal said, "We welcome the availability of Linux in Bangla. The use of open source and Linux will certainly bring benefits of Information Technology to almost every citizen of West Bengal. We expect the use of Linux to go a long way in reducing overall costs and giving a boost to our exising e-Governance initiatives and education programs. We appreciate Red Hat's localization efforts and launching Enterprise Linux in Bangla."
Javed Tapia, Director Red Hat India said "India's domestic software industry resembles the TV industry around nine years ago when the programming was only in Hindi or English. Similarly, today computers are predominantly used only in English." Over 90mn Indians speak Bengali language. He added, "Given that only a small percentage of our population communicates in English, it is imperative that software is available in Bengali and other local languages. The Red Hat Bangla desktop will definitely play a significant role in ensuring that benefits of the IT revolution are realized by millions of Bengalis," he said.
The Bangla Linux desktop has the potential to change how education and e-government work. In education, teaching school children will be easier through computer user interfaces that are in Bengali. In e-Government, the use of Bangla Linux will enable users to access and/or create information in their own language. Citizens can access Government services in Bengali. Localization also expands business opportunities of Independent Software Vendors developing applications for education, e-Governance, Rural Banking, Community Information Centers (CICs) etc.
This is a major milestone in Red Hat's long-term strategy for India. In addition to Bangla, Red Hat is working on localization of other Indian languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil. All these will be available as a part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4 in February 2005.
Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high quality, low cost technology accessible. Javed Tapia, Director, Red Hat India said, "Red Hat continues to believe that choice is most valuable to the customer. The launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux supporting local languages will be a major development in bridging the digital divide in the country and provide a cost-effective alternative to proprietary platforms."
Red Hat works actively with voluntary localisation groups in India to bring the benefits of technology to the masses.
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