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In India, Microsoft and Google go local in a big way
By Prisma News
Category:
Talk about the need for localization! After discovering that 95% of Indians prefer their local language over English, Microsoft began offering Language Interface Packs in 12 Indian languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu.
According to an article in the India Times, Google is also moving quickly to provide services to Indians in their mother tongue, including its Gmail, Blogger and Orkut products as well as an offline transliteration tool that encompasses some 14 Indian languages.
“This is increasingly being seen now as a huge opportunity,” writes India Times business reporter John Sujit.“For Microsoft, this means it can sell more of its Windows 7 or Office Suite. But as more and more of our activities move to the internet, its a fight with the likes of Google to see who can create the most acceptable applications for local language emailing, messaging, blogging, or social networking. .”
- Press release: Microsoft India introduces host of customized language computing solutions
- Times of India: MS, Google slug it out in local languages
