China has released the world's first Tibetan-language office
software, in an effort to facilitate the use of computers among
Tibetans.
The newly released "Neo-shine Tibet Office 3.0", jointly
developed by China Standard Software Corporation (CSCC) and Tibet
University, will push the development of Tibet's information
industry, said Chen Ying, an official with China's Ministry of
Information Industry.
Schools in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, are expected to be equipped
with the software, said Han Nai Ping, manager of CSCC.
"The software is world-leading because the programmers have
tackled several technological difficulties, such as the coding and
input of the Tibetan language," said Han.
The office software is expected to replace Microsoft Office
which was previously widely used in Tibetan-speaking regions, but
requires additional plug-ins for the use of the Tibetan
language.
Tibetan is used on a daily basis by more than five million
people in Tibet and the nearby provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan
and Qinghai.
According to the Ministry of Information Industry, Chinese
companies are also developing 12 other Tibetan Software products,
including "STAR Tibetan for Windows 2000/XP" and "Tibetan operating
system for Linux". These software products will be launched later
in 2008.
Programmers are also working on software products in Korean,
Mongolian and Uygur languages, Chen said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)