MS Office 2007 to support 14 Indian languages

Much to its claim 'to become relevant to one billion Indians', Microsoft Corporation will soon release the final version of its Office 2007, which supports all 14 official Indian languages.

The product, which will be launched in the fourth quarter of calender 2006, has Assamese and Oriya, as the two latest additions, a senior official of Microsoft Office and localisation team said.

Raveesh Gupta, senior product manager ? office & localisation told Business Standard that while earlier Microsoft products, including its latest version of Windows XP, was compatible with 12 Indian languages, Office 2007 supports 14 Indian languages.

"You may buy a PC or laptop with Windows XP anywhere in the world, it gives you full functionality support for 12 Indian languages. In the Office 2007 we have added two new Indian languages Assamese and Oriya," he added.

The Microsoft product suite presently supports 38 languages internationally of which 12 are Indian languages. These include Hindi, Marathi, Konkani, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Urdu and Kannada.

"We use the local language programme to extend out reach to provide enterprise applications. The Microsoft product is now completely language supportive as the functionalities are now embedded into every product we bring out." Gupta added.

In a run up to the launch of the Office System 2007, Microsoft Corporation India which recently announced the availability of the beta 2 (trial version) of its flagship offering 2007 Microsoft Office System, is rolling out a host of accessibility programmes targetted at its diverse customer segment.

While the preview of the product for the customers is already complete, the preview for the partners was held in Bangalore on Monday.

"We will soon showcase the product in Mumbai on June 15 and at Delhi on June 20," said Sundar N Balasubramanian, director, information worker business group, Microsoft Corporation (India).

He said that in the 2007 Office Systems, the user interface had been dramatically changed.

"We believe that the use of the software should be functionality-driven not feature-driven," Balasubramanian said adding that the 2007 Microsoft Office system was a complete set of desktop and server software designed to help streamline the way organisations do business.

"With Office 2007, Microsoft has redefined the desktop experience to help people get better and faster results. Through a redesigned user interface, new graphics engine, better visualisation capabilities and improved task management, people can produce more professional-looking content, find and assimilate information more quickly, and better prioritise their time and tasks," he added.

Some of the features that the Microsoft 2007 Office has included are quick access toolbar that allows one-click access to commands from anywhere within Office 2007, mini toolbar, new galleries, live preview features and superTooltips.