Tamil software -Leap Office launched by C-DAC

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has introduced an office software with Tamil spell check, e-mail facility and
dictionary called Leap Office. This is an independent Tamil word-processing and Windows
based Tamil interface software developed in accordance with the standards recommended by
the state Government at the TamilNet Conference.

Inaugurating the software launch, C-DAC Director N.
Chandrasekaran said that they were working on a three-tier environment integrating
servers, high-speed switching, ASCII standards, fonts, super computing, distributed
computing, etc.

Users of Leap Office software can avail tools such as
learning to type Tamil without previous experience, write error-free multi-lingual
documents, exchange e-mails and fax messages, store design and content, create documents,
translate words and phrases from English and extend other Windows applications.
C-DAC is
planning to make a light downloadable version available free on the net and the larger
version will also be available free but after a little more time.

C-DAC also announced the launch of its Graphics and
Intelligence-based Script Technology products - NTrans and ISM conforming to the new
coding standards in Tamil and an Indian Language software development kit.

N-Trans is a utility that can convert English Databases
(name and address fields) to Indian languages and vice versa. This can be used for
creating bilingual databases where entry can be done in one language and converted to
another, which is useful for telephone directories, voters list, land records. The Indian
language Script Manager is an interface that harnesses the strength of Windows or
Macintosh based packages like CorelDraw, 3D studio, Quark, Xpress, Power Point. ISM has
the Indian Script Font Code (ISFC) Script manager with a large number of quality fonts.

The GIST SDK is the Indian language software development
kit to develop applications on Windows 95 and Windows NT and uses Microsoft's ActiveX
technology to provide an Indian language layer to the applications. It is based on the
Component Object Model (COM) standards.