In my last few articles, I discussed about “Font is a face of human emotions & thinking”, “Indian language font” & “Keyboard handler - one of the most important aspects of Indian language computing”.

Today, I wish to inform & discuss on another aspect of Indian language computing.

Before that, I propose, suggest & wish that all the computer users do a small survey/analysis on their own and in their own capacity of their actual usage of computer on day-to-day basis.

Small & quick exercise

• Whatever number of hours (available only from 24 hours per day) that You spend while using Your office PC/home PC?
• Find out how many times You use software tools like MS Word/Word processing tool from Sun or from IBM or from Corel?
• Find out how many times You use software tool like MS Excel and similar tool?
• Find out how many times You use software tool like MS Power Point and similar tool from other companies?
• Find out how many times You use MS Outlook or only Outlook Express and/or similar emailing tool from other companies?
• Find out how many times You use MS Word to send emails or MS Outlook or Outlook Express or similar tool to send emails?
• By the way, all this has to be found out while using Indian languages on computers and that is very important.
  

Write down the analysis.

You must have realised that, in normal course of time, it is the word processor tool and email client software tool that gets used maximum than any other software tools like MS Excel/similar tool from other companies, MS Power Point/similar tool from other companies, etc.

Here I am not touching any other customised applications/ready made products like ERP, SAP, BAAN, Tally, CRM, SCM, PDM, PLM, CAD tools, etc. etc.

Now when we talk about word processing, have you ever calculated number of functions/features of word processing tool that we use?

OK. Let me list down few functions those are used in maximum percentage namely:-

• Page set up – Left Margin, Right Margin, Top Margin, Bottom Margin, Page Number, Page Border, paper size, etc.
• Paragraph & various attributes of paragraph like left indent, right indent, line space between 2 lines, line space between 2 paragraphs, bulleted text & so on.
• Page Header & Page Footer
• Page Preview, page print, etc.
• Insert Date & time, Image, Picture, Sound file & repetitive words like sir, dear sir, yours, truly yours, yours sincerely, Page Break, Symbol, Background, Comment, Table, Hyperlink, Word Art, etc. etc.
• Find & replace, Select all, Copy, cut & paste
• Save file – in MS Word format, in text format, in PDF format, etc.
• Email file – as attachment and/or as preview
  

Now for all the above functions, Indian linguistic users pay huge price tag (Rs. 16,000/- per PC) to Microsoft Corporation for buying standard MS Office and they use only 20% features of MS Word, lesser features of MS Excel, MS Power Point, MS Outlook.

Now have you realised how all legal users of MS Office (across India) made Microsoft so much rich when similar product was very much available in India and from India.

Tool name is Patrika word processor.

• Patrika is shipped with every Shree-Lipi pack. Patrika is also a part of Ankur Office.
• Patrika used to get bundled and used to get shipped with all TVS Electronics’s bilingual dot matrix printers as well as bilingual keyboards.
  

Apart from above mentioned features, Patrika word processor has got some unique features like:-

• Complete menu in all Indian languages including English.
• Patrika can be used for all Indian languages including English.
• Documents created in Patrika can be saved in PDF format, they can be saved in MS Word DOC format & they can be saved in TXT format too.
  

When I was interviewed by judge panel of Infosys-CSI foundation? Panel got so much impressed that they awarded Ankur Office (Patrika word processor is part of Ankur Office product) as India’s best shrink wrapped packaged product. We received certificate, trophy as well as cash award from Infosys-CSI foundation for Ankur Office.

In case, You have not seen Patrika word processor? Ask for the demo immediately and/or call me on Skype. My Skype id is “Phadke1”. i can give on-line demo.



(Thoughts mentioned in above article are writer’s sole thoughts. You may agree, You may not. You can be connected with writer, Mr. Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan via email and his email ID is phadke@modular-infotech.com . Writer is associated with Modular InfoTech and writing is his passion apart from many activities that he do in his personal as well as professional life)

Keyboard handling for Indian language

In the last two articles, I wrote about “Font is a face of human emotions & thinking”. I wrote about “Indian language font” and how it is important to select an appropriate & accurate font while writing any thing on computer.

In this article, I want to inform about “Keyboard handling” that is directly lined/connected with Indian language computing. Without “keyboard handling”, Indian language computing will not be understood in totality.

Now before that i want to ask few simple questions. Answers are very simple and known to every person. However, answers will empower You about how important “keyboard handling” is in connection with Indian languages and Indian language computing.

Let us assume (hypothetically and only for discussion purpose.

1. You got a wonderful car & it is expensive too, However, if there is no fuel in the car and/or there is no money available with you to fill up the fuel in car.
   
   • Can you drive the vehicle?
   • Answer is NO.
2. Similarly, you invested huge money (from your own pocket/by-getting loan from financial institute) to build a wonderful & dream home for Yourself & for Your family.o However, if there is no power in home, there is no money left with you/available with you to buy the power and/or there is no power grid near by Your home.
   
   • Can you & your family enjoy & use that home for 24/7/365?
   • Answer is NO.
3. Similarly, when your PC or your MAC got (wonderful, artistic, decorative, pure, neat & covering all the aspects of language) Indian language font (you got it free, You copied it from someone else, you downloaded from web site, etc. etc.) but you don’t have keyboard-handling logic/utility software supplied with that Indian language font and/or You don’t know how to type in Indian language on your computer/Mac using that font.
   
   • Can you use that font for typing out “Your thoughts” and “Your emotions”?
   • Answer is NO once again.
     

That is the exact point where I wish to have your kind attention.

“Keyboard handling” logic is like heart of Indian language font, Indian language computing & Indian language computing business.

Let us go back and understand how this became an important subject/issue when we talk about Indian language computing.

You might be aware that before computers were introduced/launched in India, all types of users, used to use electronic typewriters.

At that time, only Godrej & Network (It was part of HCL group. When HCL launched PC’s in India. This unit was merged in PC business) used to supply bilingual electronic typewriters all across India. Having said this, both these firms used to focus only on Govt. business, Defence business & on education sector in respective business territories.

At that time, there was another firm by name PCL who also tried & burned their fingers in this business line. i am aware of this since i was associated with PCL.

That is the only time when i failed to serve Indian consumers. i have no fear to accept the fact that i failed to select an appropriate employer and i will never forget about it. i always wanted to serve Indian consumers, but PCL as a company never ever understood the business line & need of consumer.

Having said this, i also have to say that PCL was one of the best marketing & sales organisations. i learned many lessons about sales, service, direct sales, indirect sales, marketing, branding, etc. via PCL only. Through hard ways & through great pains.

Before that (consumers buying bilingual electronic typewriters), people used to use mechanical typewriters for English as well as for Indian languages.

Mechanical typewriter was the first machine that was used all over the world for typing out various documents. When mechanical typewriter was viewed & seen by few Indian manufacturing companies like Godrej, Facit & Remington? Since they were born in India and India was multilingual, they realised the importance of Indian languages and launched their own linguistic typewriters across India in respective languages.

At that time, no one was in that business. These manufacturers worked along with some linguistic R&D people from respective states and launched their own linguistic mechanical typewriters and with their choice linguistic keyboard layout. These layouts became popular in respective states as “Godrej” layout, “Remington” layout & so on.

As usual + as expected, Govt. of India (ruling at that time) and various States Govt. (ruling at that time) never realised the importance of Indian languages on mechanical typewriters (and in turn on electronic typewriters & then on PC’s/Mac’s/Linux machines).

These manufacturers started shipping their brand of mechanical typewriters in Indian market. At that time, these typewriters purchased by Govt. offices, by typewriter training institutes, by schools, by colleges, by universities, etc. etc. and that is how linguistic keyboard layout became popular in respective states & for respective languages.

Where as for English, there was only one keyboard layout that was popular & globally accepted for English language and that is “QWERTY” keyboard layout.

If You wish to know more about English layout? Please visit following web links namely:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY
2. http://www.abckeyboard.co.uk/qwerty.htm

When IBM compatible PC’s were introduced back in 1987? That is the real time when Indian language computing triggered off. In those days, software developers started developing DOS based linguistic products. At that time only Word Processor was available which was used largely by linguistic users.

The day, Windows was launched on PC’s and MAC operating system was launched on Apple? Indian language computing started running.

Day by day usage started increasing and that is the time suddenly users realised that “Keyboard handler” is one of the most important aspects of Indian language computing.

Till today, lot of professionals, enthusiastic individuals, small & medium organisations including world giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple and over all Linux community tried their hands and came up with their own R&D solutions for “keyboard handling”.

However, no one has ever beaten “Keyboard handler” solution/logic developed by Modular InfoTech long back. One of the beauties is, every linguistic user is free to select an appropriate keyboard layout of his/her choice. No compulsion on him/her to use supplier’s keyboard layout. No need of learning new keyboard layouts that are forced by some organisations/individuals.

Over & above, document created by A user using A particular keyboard layout can be edited by B user using B particular keyboard layout and can be re-edited by C user using C keyboard layout. In addition to this, this versatile “Keyboard handler” also allows users to create their own choice of keyboard layout as per his/her comfort.

What else Indian linguistic user can expect from software development company and that is why i keep telling Indian language computing users.

• Do not buy Indian language font just like that.
• Do not download free Indian language fonts available on web.
• In case, You are a serious Indian language-computing user, think about this aspect of “keyboard handling” first and then take a decision.
  

Next time when you think of going for Indian language font for your PC and / or MAC, Think of Shree fonts supplied in Modular’s Shree-Lipi package (Shree-Lipi is available on Windows as well on MAC) and think of “Keyboard handling”. See actual demonstration and/or ask for “keyboard handling” demonstration and then take decision.

• Invest Your hard-earned money (and Your organisation too) for right product, appropriate product and accurate product.
• We value Your decision.
• We value Your investment and we sincerely wish & want You to get 100% ROI (Return on Investment) on Your purchase decision.We care too.

(Thoughts mentioned in above article are writer’s sole thoughts. You may agree, You may not. You can be connected with writer, Mr. Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan via email and his email ID is phadke@modular-infotech.com . Writer is associated with Modular InfoTech and writing is his passion apart from many activities that he do in his personal as well as professional life)

Express Your thoughts & emotions with appropriate and accurate computer font

In my last article, I wrote/informed, “Font is true face of human emotions & human thinking”.

Now let us try to understand, read & get more knowledge about “Font”. Here, we are discussing only about “computer font” and various attributes/shades/types/typeface/glyph code attached with “computer font” and restricted with Indian languages.

Before I write about “Indian language font”, I want to narrate/inform about normal thing that we experience everyday.

I am sure you must have heard, seen, tested & eaten “Dahi Wada” and/or “Dahi Idli”. Both are south Indian dishes. Fact of the life is, our mothers, our sisters, our aunts, friends, relatives & wife too can cook & prepare wonderful & healthy “Dahi Wada” and/or “Dahi Idli” in home than any restaurant. I am hopeful that you may not disagree. Let me repeat, You may not disagree.

Home made “Dahi Wada” and/or “Dahi Idli” (and for that matter any eating dish) is far better than we eat outside and specifically in hotels/restaurants. However & having said this, why we invest our valuable time & spend 10 times more money on these dishes & eat in hotels/restaurants?

Reason is very simple.

The way both these dishes are served & garnished is the major difference. In addition to this, the way these food items are served in ambiance & in time line.

Similarly, when we write anything on computer (article, resume, email, answer paper, book, thesis, white paper, blog article, newspaper, union agreements, agreements with landlord, appointment letter, invoice, delivery challan, cheque, etc.) and express our thoughts & emotions (via writing). These emotions/thoughts must be expressed in appropriate & accurate words/lines. In addition to this, by selecting appropriate font/font face. Font face is also called as “Typeface”. These thoughts must carry all those emotions that we all have in our mind when we write these thoughts.

These thoughts & emotions come out from our mind via words, lines, phrases, quotes, sentences (small/long), paragraphs, punctuation marks & above all symbols. All these (thoughts + expressions attached to writing) are represented by a font when we print that document, when we email that document and/or when we publish that document on Internet.

Now these thoughts & emotions are meant for reading purpose. I am sure on this statement You will not disagree. Now it becomes important that, these thoughts & emotions must reach to the reader’s mind/heart/soul.

No doubt, words/lines/phrases/quotes are going to play a major role in writing. However to garnish & to present our thoughts/emotions, font makes a major difference.

That is why, when you start writing anything on computer, you must possess & use an appropriate font that can express your emotions & thinking perfectly.

In turn, it becomes extremely important to have large library of fonts in your PC so that when you write, you have an appropriate & accurate choice of font to select.

Now in this area, Shree-Lipi & font library supplied with Shree-Lipi makes the difference.

Shree-Lipi package come with large number of fonts/type faces. Please check out model for exact number of fonts. Shree-Lipi comes with following types of fonts namely:-

• Monolingual are the fonts that come with alphabets in local language with numerical numbers in local language or English language
• Suchi bilingual fonts come with alphabets in local language as well in English language with numerical numbers in English language only.
• In addition to above, Indian symbols, Indian celebrity font, Election font, border fonts, religious symbols, English fonts, Diacritical English fonts, etc.
  

Shree-Lipi is like basket of fonts. Chose appropriate one according to event, task in hand, emotions & thoughts. Let Your emotions & thoughts be understood by the reader accurately. Your writing is important. Nevertheless, do not ignore font that comes with various emotions & shades.

So next time, when You start Your PC or MAC and start writing on computer in Indian languages, think about Shree-Lipi and the basketful fonts that come with Shree-Lipi.

If You wish to know more about this? Write to me. You can talk to me on GTalk using subbod@gmail.com or subbodkphadke@gmail.com or subodhkumarphadke@gmail.com or subodhkumarnarayanphadke@gmail.com or phadkesubodhkumar@gmail.com. You can also talk to me using Skype and my Skype ID is “Phadke1”.

• Modular has also developed Shree Dynamic fonts. These fonts can be used for web site/web portal development. These are very important fonts. These fonts reside on web site/portal server. These fonts dynamically arrive on viewer’s machine (without him/her coming to know about it) and in turn, he/she is able to view web site/portal in respective language. These fonts are available in EOT format compatible for Internet browser. Please note. Never ever, use TTF Indian language fonts for web site/portal. If someone uses also, those site will not visible across the globe on viewer’s machine since these fonts may not be available. In turn, viewer will see only junk characters and then You may loose the viewer. One viewer lost. = 6000 users lost and that is the power of Internet medium. So be aware & be alert.
• Modular has also developed & designed large number of Unicode compliant fonts for web based applications. These fonts can be used for interactive web based web application like chat, SMS, comments, polls, data entry, etc.
  

If You wish to know more about “Font” as subject and “Computer Font” as subject, please do visit following web links. These web links can empower You about technical details about font/computer font.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_font
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font



(Thoughts mentioned in above article are writer’s sole thoughts. You may agree, You may not. You can be connected with writer, Mr. Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan via email and his email ID is phadke@modular-infotech.com . Writer is associated with Modular InfoTech and writing is his passion apart from many activities that he do in his personal as well as professional life)

Shree-Lipi is different

“Font is a human face of his/her emotions, expressions & thinking. “

"Till the time mankind planet is going to move, need of printed publication & need of digital/electronic publication is not going to wither away. And in this, font will play a major role”

Now these are the two basic & important lines, on which Modular Systems, Pune started back in Year 1983.

In due course of time, i am going to write & empower You on many subjects about Modular and how Modular is very unique organisation from India helping fellow citizens across the globe. Truly, Modular is doing a great job of bringing down digital divide.

To start with, i wish to inform You and empower You about Shree-Lipi and how this name came in existence. Shree-Lipi, very poetic & well thought name given by Modular InfoTech’s founders to their font software product. Shree-Lipi is India’s fastest & largest sold packaged software product. Still being sold in numbers.

Let us find out how Shree-Lipi name was given to this versatile & highly popular multilingual & multipurpose software product.

• Shree is the first word that is taught by every mother to any newborn child in India.
• While doing so, most of the mother’s do use black slate & white pencil and teaches their kids how to write “Shree”.
• There is also a mythological story behind “Shree” word.
• You might be aware that “Shree” is linked with Hindu God, Ganapati/Gajanan.
• Other popular names for Ganapati are Ganesh, Vinayak, Gajanan, Vakratund & many more.
• It is said that (Please note. i have no validation tool to prove about this since i also about this from my grand parents.) it was “Shree Gajanan” who taught us India how to write.
• Shree Gajanan is praised by many people (mostly Hindu’s) across the living planet and recognised as father/Guru of all Vidya (Vidya = knowledge).
• May be because of this story heard by many mothers in their childhood, every mother teaches her son/daughter, the first word as “Shree”.
• Now let us understand Lipi.
• Lipi means the way we write on paper, on wall, on floor, on slate, on black/white board and write electronically on PC, on tablet PC, iPad, PDA & Mobile phones using application software products available on chargeable basis and/or free.
• Writing is called as Lipi in Sanskrit language.

Shree-Lipi & fonts supplied with Shree-Lipi helps multilingual Indian IT users to write their emotions & their thinking in their mother language.

• They can use Shree-Lipi fonts, available in huge numbers (please check various models in Shree-Lipi for number of fonts).
  
• These fonts are designed & developed with different face, different moods & with variety of emotions.
  
• Modular has developed one of the largest libraries of all Indian language fonts, decorative fonts, border fonts, symbol fonts, special fonts, etc. These fonts can be used in many computer applications (software products) that are available & used by computer users.
  
• Applications like MS Word, MS Power Point, MS Excel, Open Office word, Lotus Smart Suite, Outlook Express, MS Outlook Express, Adobe Page Maker, Adobe In-Design, Coral Draw, Word Pad, Not Pad, Internet Browser, Firefox Browser, etc. and he/she can use fonts supplied in Shree-Lipi.
  

In my next article, i will empower You on various attributes of fonts, types of fonts, their importance, their usage, etc. Please watch out for next article on coming Monday.

(Thoughts mentioned in above article are writer’s sole thoughts. You may agree, You may not. You can be connected with writer, Mr. Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan via email and his email ID is phadke@modular-infotech.com . Writer is associated with Modular InfoTech and writing is his passion apart from many activities that he do in his personal as well as professional life)