Shevchenko
Scientific Society
21,
Gen. Chuprynka Street
Lviv,
79013
Ukraine
June
2, 2004
William
H. Gates III
Chairman
& Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation
1
Microsoft Way
Redmond,
WA 98052
Dear
Mr. Gates:
First,
we would like to express our appreciation for localizing some of the latest
Microsoft products for the Ukrainian language. As a result we are anticipating
additional momentum in demand for Microsoft products in Ukrainian markets,
especially since Ukraine's economic growth today is among the highest in Europe
and “State-of-the-art IT is developing rapidly in Ukraine” as pointed out by
Maggie Wilderotter, Senior Vice President, World Wide Public Sector, Microsoft.
These are some of the reasons that we not only improve the quality of these
localizations but also widen the scope of the products to be localized. The quality and breath of the
localizations were the main issues taken up at a scientific and technical
conference “Localization Problems of Microsoft Products in the Ukrainian
Language “ sponsored by the society “Microsoft Ukraine”, held on March 19, 2004
in Lviv, Ukraine and hosted by the local Shevchenko Scientific Society. The conference participants included
representatives from educational institutions, scientific academies, members of
the Technical Language Standards and Terminology Committee, and representatives
from Microsoft. The conference participants drafted recommendations [enclosed]
that, in our opinion, will improve our cooperation and understanding of our
needs and requirements.
While
we applaud Microsoft’s announcement on March 16, 2004 of a "Local Language
Program, which fosters the important development, growth and proliferation of
regional language groups, enabling them to promote their language and culture
while benefiting from continuing IT advancements"
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/mar04/03-16LLPPR.asp, nevertheless
it is very disheartening to see that all of the independent countries that were
under the former Soviet Union must register for this program and work through
the “local Microsoft subsidiary office “ in Moscow,
http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/ . It has been fifteen years since the
Soviet Union dissolved and yet from this site one gets the impression that it
still exists and that the Soviet Union is Russia. This attitude may have been
excusable 20 years ago but to perpetuate it today is a disservice to all the
new nations including Russia. We attribute this to inertia rather than to
malice or political leveraging on Microsoft’s part, yet this attitude is not
helping the independent nations or Microsoft.
Ukraine
is in a struggle to overcome the negative legacies of prolonged foreign
domination and destructive communism, and is trying to achieve a true democracy
and a market economy. Surely, Ukraine’s success would be of strategic advantage
to Microsoft. Thus it is perplexing to us why one of the largest technically
advanced European nations with one of the highest literacy rates in the word
has not been added to the 24 countries that enjoy the high linguistic standards
of localization and a complete array of localized products. This problem was
discussed at the conference, and it is the consensus of the participants that
the next version of Ukrainian localization 1) conform rigorously to the
linguistic standards of Ukraine’s language and 2) that The Language Interface
Pack (LIP) be for the original English version and not an intermediary
language.
These
recommendations are consistent with the objectives of Microsoft’s
Local
Language Program
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/government/LocalLanguage.aspx
The
Local Language Program addresses several critical goals of national and
regional governments worldwide by:
• Developing a robust local IT
economy.
• Building universal IT
solutions for multi-language cultures.
• Enabling the use of regional
languages in technology to facilitate the preservation of language and culture.
Adding
a Language Interface Pack on top of a once removed English version does not
“facilitate the preservation of language and culture”
In
support of the above recommendations, we are enclosing some Ukrainian software
products and documents prepared by language experts. We are also enclosing an
open letter written to The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych;
Chairman of Ukrainian Parliament, Volodymyr Lytvyn; Ukraine’s Minister of
Education and Science, Vasyl Kremen; and Communication and Information
Technology’s Chairman, Oleh Yatsenko.
With
deepest respect and hope for mutual cooperation,
Oleh
Romaniv
President,
Shevchenko Scientific Society – Ukraine
Member-Correspondent,
National Academy of Sciences - Ukraine
C:
Maggie Wilderotter,
Senior Vice
President,
World Wide
Public Sector, Microsoft