“The IT sector is rapidly developing, the software is sophisticated. IT products’ life is not very long, 2-4 years. Everything is changing rapidly, and we have to adapt to the developments,” Grigor Barseghyan, Director of the Microsoft Armenia branch told NEWS.am-Innovation. He pointed out the importance of “Armenianizing” two pieces of Microsoft software.

He said that Microsoft’s policy is to remove language barriers worldwide. The company started “Armenianizing” the software in 2006. Windows XP was the first Armenian-language product. Local experts, linguists and programmers were involved.

“In 2007, we translated Windows XP into Armenian. Further work involved Office-2007 and Windows Vista,” Barseghyan said. He attaches high importance to the spell check function in the Armenian-language Office 2007, as well as to Unicode “with integrity of no less than 90%.”

Users can download the programs free of charge provided they have licensed English-language originals.

“We continue working, inquiring about users’ opinions, which is most important for us. We are often asked about terms. We understand that it takes time for users to master the new terms,” Barseghyan said. He expressed the confidence that “Armenianizing” computer programs is a continuous process. Local companies continue developing the Armenian-language versions of Windows 7 and Office 2010. Barseghyan said that Windows 7 will be ready by the end of this year, with Office 2010 to follow it.

T.P.