Microsoft unveils Incan version of Windows (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Microsoft unveils Incan version of Windows

Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:09 AM IST147
By Eduardo Garcia
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-08-26T035857Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-264935-1.xml&archived=False

SUCRE, Bolivia (Reuters) - Microsoft launched a version of its software
in the Incan language of Quechua on Friday, boosting Bolivian President
Evo Morales' quest to promote Bolivia's native tongues.

Some 200 people, many of them Quechuan Indians clad in ponchos, joined
local Microsoft executives to unveil the version of the Windows
operating system and Office software in Bolivia's constitutional
capital.

"Open" is replaced by "Kichay" and "Save" by "Waqaychay" in the version
in Quechua -- a language spoken by more than 2.5 million people in
Bolivia, and some 10 million throughout South America.

Since taking power in January, Morales, an Aymara Indian, has sought to
promote Indian culture and end discrimination against indigenous
peoples in South America's poorest country.

Government officials said they were excited about the new software but
concerned it could be costly for many in Bolivia's poor indigenous
majority.

"We congratulate Microsoft for having facilitated the use of computers
in our own languages, but we have to advance towards systems that are
more open because we still have to pay a license fee (to use the
software) to Microsoft," Bolivia's Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca
said.

Windows and Office In Quechua can be downloaded free from the Internet,
but only by those who already own licensed versions of the software
packages.

Maritza Yapu, a 28-year-old Quechua teacher, thinks the new version will
help Quechua speakers breach the digital divide with Spanish speakers in
Bolivia.

"Quechua is experiencing a revival, some university teachers read their
courses in Quechua, and now the (education) Ministry is including the
language in primary education," said the teacher.

The Quechua translation was carried out by academics from three Peruvian
universities in coordination with the Education Ministry in Peru --
where Quechua is also spoken -- and Microsoft.