-----Forwarded Message-----

From: Dr Deepak B Phatak dbp@it.iitb.ac.in To: all@it.iitb.ac.in, faculty@cse.iitb.ac.in Subject: GNU/Linux Indianization Date: 06 Apr 2002 02:08:36 +0530

Dear ALL

With regard to this important topic, an event is being organized in KReSIT on 9th April. I have given the details in the enclosed write up. Those of you interested in this work are most welcome. Equally important is to ensure that enthusiastic students interested in this area should also participate. But I have no direct way to reach them in this short time. Could I therefore request you to forward this mail to students of your department. Also, I would like to request LUG member(s) from KReSIT to advertise this event amongst the GNU/Linux community.

Thanks

- dbp

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Currently, there is a lack of a good software system which can handle Indian languages. There are a few Multi-lingual office productivity tools. But this is far from the full range of tools that make a computer useful. Till now, work in this field has involved disparate groups, working in isolation, developing closed products. These products have not gained popularity, and lack inter-operability. Since most of the products developed today are closed source, we cannot modify them to support all the functionality required by computers to work comfortably in and with Indian Languages.

We believe that the solution lies in Free Software, like GNU/Linux, which can be customized to support Indian languages. Free Software has the advantage of outliving any one team of developers, and of collaborative development, where people build on each other's strengths to arrive at a superior product. This effort will gift us with our own operating system, capable of dealing with Indian languages, and guarantee our freedom of use.

From various discussions with Dr Mudur, I have come to realize that

Indian languages are immensely difficult to represent on computers, since they are phonetic, and not linear (like English). Yet, it is widely believed that the problem is not of a technical nature but a project management failure. There is enough talent in India to give us an Indian Language UNIX, one which can finally take computing to the masses.

To initiate some concerted action in this direction, the School of IT proposes to organize a short talk (as per schedule below) followed by a discussion. The talk will cover the basic issues in localization, and what is the current status of Indianization in GNU/Linux. We also plan to collect details and status of as many efforts as can be culled out from the audience. This, of course, would be an on going process.

Venue: 3rd floor classroom, KReSIT, IIT Bombay. Day and Date: Tuesday, 9th April Time: 16:00 Hrs.

ALL INTERESTED, irrespective of department and Institutional affiliations are most welcome to participate. To permit effective handling of logistics concerning tea and snacks, I request to send an email with subject "will attend on 9th" (message text may be just blank) to any one of the following:

sameerds@it.iitb.ac.in vikram@mayin.org dbp@it.iitb.ac.in

Thanks

- Deepak ---------------------------------------------- Dr. Deepak B Phatak Subrao Nilekani Chair & Head Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Mumbai 400 076, India

Phone: (Off) +91 22 5767900/01/02 (Res) +91 22 5768747, 5724611 Fax: +91 22 5720022, 5723480 email: dbp@it.iitb.ac.in ----------------------------------------------