C-DAC launches Indian language interface software

BANGALORE: The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has

launched a new version of the Indian language interface software, ISM (ISFOC

Script Manager) version 3.0. The software is targeted at conventional

publishing, Web publishing, content creation and software application

development.

With the increasing thrust on adopting IT for various applications, the use

of Indian languages on computers had also acquired a new dimension said C-DAC

executive director Dr. R.K. Arora. ISM is a 32-bit Indian language interface

which allows users to work on any Indian language with applications such as

MS-Office, Page-Maker, CorelDraw, Photoshop which has a large number of

aesthetic fonts for Indian languages. Currently, ISM supports Assamese, Bengali,

Devnagiri, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, Sanskrit,

Tamil and Telugu, he said.

ISM 3.0 includes a set of application program interfaces to enable software

development using ISM Office. The software has a font previewer and the software

is available for multiple user systems as Windows NT and Novell NetWare. It can

also translate proper nouns from English to Indian languages of the user's

choice and a DOS-based editor.

Dr Arora said ISM 3.0 consists of a range of products such as ISM Publisher,

ISM Soft and ISM Office. ISM Publisher is being brought out with two options,

one with a single language costing Rs 4,000 and the other with all languages

costing Rs 6,000. ISM Soft is priced at Rs 4,000, targeting home usage, while

ISM Office, targeting corporate, Government and educational institutions, is

priced at Rs 8,000. ISM Office had made it possible to work with existing

Windows-based application allowing use of Indian scripts with C-DAC's ISFOC

(Indian Script Font Code) font standard, he said.