Indian technology has been taking important steps in the last few years towards becoming more empowered and a major part of this movement has been contributed to by the indigenous developers. Recently several techies from Assam have volunteered to create a MS Word processor named Jahnabi, which will be operated in the local language. Incidentally, a regional variation of the MS Word in Bengali has been developed as well. In all probability, this medium too will be functioning in the Unicode method. The best part of this technology, from the user’s perspective though, is that it is free to download and use.
The processor is also expected to have a feature of automatic suggestion that will show users the word that it assumes they will want to write. It also has a dictionary and offers spell-checking facilities in addition to the unique assortment of famous idioms of Assam. Jahnabi will also allow users to incorporate more words in the dictionary and designate shortcuts for sentences and idioms that they use quite often. The brains behind the operation will also aim to add a digital dictionary that will function offline and contain information on the historic monuments and crucial areas in the state.
However, there are some technological specifications that need to be kept in mind while downloading this software and installing it. The user should have Windows XP (SP 2)/Vista/7/8 and also preload the Assamese Unicode font – the RAM size has to be at least 200MB. The user should also have installed at least Microsoft.NET 4.0 or more. While installing the software it is important to temporarily disable the anti-virus program and once it has been done the user can then add the same to the white list of the same. From a technological point of view one could think of developing regional language keyboards. That will help to make these software applications even better. At least, a virtual keyboard will also be very helpful, if a physical one cannot be developed due to any reason.
With the advent of the Bengali MS word software and now the Assamese version it is going to be a great boon for the regional language scenario for India. This will help technology reach a greater number of people especially ones who are not that well conversant with English or do not know the language but still wish to be technologically well-equipped. May be the Indian government can look to have independent software enterprises come up with such regional variations and then have other companies or even the same ones follow up with the improvement process. This would also help create several jobs and thus be doubly beneficial in the long run.
