The tale of Microsoft's new Ukrainian software, and a little prodding (04/14/02)

The tale of Microsoft's new Ukrainian software, and a little prodding

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Microsoft Corp. released a Ukrainian version of its new Microsoft Office XP software package on March 12, making it the first computer software on the market available in the Ukrainian language.

While Microsoft officially noted that it was responding to specific market demand in developing the product, the company downplayed the fact that it was also a response to specific force placed upon it by several concerns.

The Ukrainian-language software emerged only after the Ministry of Education exerted pressure on Microsoft to develop a Ukrainian version of its basic software programs for use in its schools. In turn, the Ukrainian government action came only after the Shevchenko Scientific Society used its influences and contacts to put the heat on them.

Nonetheless, the computer giant used the March 12 event to hype its contribution to the language development of Ukraine by noting that finally there are words for the various computer commands and software terminology in the Ukrainian language.

"If word usage is developing, it means the language is alive," explained Olga Dergunova, the director of the CIS office of Microsoft, at a press conference at the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv.

She added that her company considers the introduction of the software a noteworthy achievment for her company.

"The appearance of a software program in yet another national language is a big day for Microsoft as well as for that country," said Ms. Dergunova.

Microsoft will provide users Ukrainian language versions of its Office XP in the "professional" or "small business" versions, which will allow them to interface with the Word 2002, Excel 2002, Outlook 2002 and PowerPoint 2002 programs. The small business version will also have Publisher 2002. However, thus far only the Word and Outlook programs are in the Ukrainian-language.

The programs also contain word correction and orthographic correction features for Ukrainian, along with a Ukrainian directory of synonyms.

Ms. Dergunova said that, in responding to the need for a Ukrainian-language program, Microsoft was reacting to "dynamic recent growth in the Ukrainian market." She explained that the driving forces behind the decision to develop a Ukrainian package was the fact the language is required in all official state documents; is the language of education; and is increasingly used in business correspondence.

What she didn't mention was that the Ministry of Education gave notice in 2001 that it needed a Ukrainian-language program for the computers it was beginning to install in its schools. Originally the plan, introduced in May 2001 to computerize 2,900 Ukrainian schools and institutions of higher learning before the end of 2003, was to utilize existing Russian-language Microsoft Word and Microsoft Express Outlook programs.

However, the U.S.-based Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh), and specifically the chair of its Math and Science Section, Dr. Roman Andrushkiw, got wind of the fact and turned to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and to the Ukrainian government to insist that only a Ukrainian-language software program could be acceptable.

In his letter to Mr. Gates, Dr. Andrushkiw emphasized that Microsoft had provided localized operating software for all the countries in the region - Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland - but, inexplicably not for Ukraine.

Dr. Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, the well-known Ukrainian activist, presidential consultant and NTSh member, took up the matter with officials of the Ukrainian government and the Ministry of Education. Eventually, National Deputy Ihor Yukhnovskyi assured Dr. Hawrylyshyn that he was aware of the issue and that it would be resolved.

In an interview with The Weekly on April 10, Microsoft did not deny that it had responded to pressure from the Ministry of Education. Oleksander Katushonok, the regional representative in Ukraine for Microsoft, said the Ministry of Education had played a significant role in the company's decision to go with a Ukrainian software program.

"We received many letters from customers who said government offices needed to produce documents in the Ukrainian language - and it was also proposed by the Ministry of Education because it was needed for schools and higher educational institutions," explained Mr. Katushonok.

He said the contract with the Ukrainian government to provide computers to Ukrainian schools influenced the decision as well because "it is an international standard of Microsoft that when there is a partnership with a government the most important programs are to be translated into the native language."

Mr. Katushonok noted that work was continuing on translating other Microsoft programs and that, Windows, Powerpoint and Excel would soon be available in Ukrainian as well.

He said the new Ukrainian version of Office XP package would cost about $350 and emphasized that the price is comparable, if not cheaper, than the Russian or English-language versions. He also underscored that no additional equipment would be needed to run the Ukrainian-language version.

Valerii Samsonov, a Ministry of Education official, said Ukrainian software would replace Russian software in schools where computers were already in place. He said he also hoped the Ukrainian version of Windows would be available for Ukrainian students by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Education project to provide 2,900 mostly village schools with computers and Internet capability - a continuation of a program begun in 2000 to computerize all Ukrainian schools - has already provided computers for some 1,400 learning institutions, among them 240 village schools. The eventual cost of the computerization of Ukraine's schools is expected to reach $32 million.

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