Technology Network

      At the Microsoft India Development Center, the software giant showcased a set of tools that help users enter text of select Indian languages into computers easily and quickly.

      The beta version of the tools will be made available as a free download soon and will initially support six languages - Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. These tools have been engineered by Emerging Markets Labs (EM Labs) of the Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC). The technology can be leveraged to support other syllabic languages other than Indian languages.

      These input tools use free-form transliteration. Users' need to spell words of an Indian language phonetically using English alphabets, which the tools transliterate into the right words in the chosen Indian language. In addition to desktop and web versions, visual keyboards for all supported languages are also available.

      Microsoft said the desktop version is unique among the free-form transliteration offerings in the market today, as it enables the user to enter Indian language text directly into any application running on Microsoft Windows, such as Microsoft Word or Windows Live Messenger. The web version allows the user to enter text on any web page without requiring software download. The visual keyboard enables users, who are not familiar with English alphabets, to visually select and directly enter Indian language characters.