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http://in.rediff.com/money/2004/feb/05ms.htm

MS Office in 14 Indian languages

February 05, 2004 20:58 IST


Microsoft India Pvt Ltd would make available its office suites,
including Office 2003 and Windows 2003, in all 14 Indian official
languages in the next three years, while plans are in the offing to
provide an improved thrust on the company's e-commerce initiatives in
the country.

"We are providing local language interface much ahead of the curve
(maturity point) and the enablement in the remaining five languages is
under the company's localisation drive," Microsoft India managing
director Rajiv Kaul told reporters in Mumbai on Thursday.The software
major had earlier provided local language interface for its office
suites in nine Indian languages, including Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and
Telugu among others.

On its improved thrust on e-commerce initiatives, he said that
Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customer sectors are expected to
mature shortly, with a turning point somewhere between 18 to 24
months.

With major initiatives by various state governments on the e-commerce
front, the e-governance segment in the country is also poised to post
a random growth, he added.

This is a "short-period" and the company is gearing itself to help and
educate customers on the benefits of e-commerce and e-governance, he
said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft India has appointed Ravi Venkatesan as its
chairman and managing director, effective February 18.

In the newly-created post, Venkatesan would be responsible for the
company's marketing, sales, operational and business in India and
report to Microsoft president Asia-Pacific Sanjay Mirchandani.