Microsoft's new Windows targets Bhutan


Microsoft is seeking to get Bhutan up to speed

Staff and reports

THIMPHU, Bhutan -- Microsoft's latest venture is a localized version of its dominant Windows operating system for the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

The country, with a population of just over two million, currently has seven different computer systems that support its native language, Dzongkha.

But all are incomplete, all have different fonts, and none are compatible with each other.

Current Dzongkha operating systems can't even save files in the language.

Enter Microsoft, which is currently integrating Dzongkha's 4,500 characters, letters and religious symbols into Windows in a standard format that can be used anywhere.

"With this new system all kinds of religious texts and scripts can now be computerized," said the font's developer, Chris Flynn, to Bhutan's Kuensel newspaper.

Based on calligraphy fonts

The new Dzongkha fonts are based on those used by Bhutanese calligraphy artists and monks.

The multinational effort to bring Bhutan's computers up to speed with the rest of the world involves U.K. company The Orient Foundation, Bhutan's Dzongkha Development Commission, U.S. software giant Microsoft and the Swiss Development Corporation.

They plan to release the new Dzongkha-capable version of Windows in early 2003.

This means the people of Bhutan will finally be able to send e-mail in their native language -- but given that the CIA World Factbook says the country only had 500 Internet users in 2000, demand may be limited.