ELABORATION OF ARMENIAN FONTS AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS URGENT STEP
By Ara Martirosian

AZG Armenian Daily
13/07/2007

The elaboration of the Armenian fonts and computer programs is an
integral part of the IT development policy. "Elaboration of Armenian
Computer Programs and Fonts and Importance of Copyright Preservation
for IT Sector Development" conference dwelt on these very issues
yesterday.

Edik Ghabouzian, representative of one of the event’s initiators,
stated that the lack of the Armenian fonts with Unicode coding in the
Windows systems makes the process more complicated. At present, the
users mainly apply ASC decoding fonts that are outdates and are not
useful for Internet options. That’s why; the Armenian users have to
use Latin fonts for communicating by Internet. At present, by decree
of RA Culture Ministry, a special group is shaped for elaboration of
the new Armenian fonts.

Touching upon the current situation with the IT sector in Armenia,
Grigor Barseghian, Microsoft representative in Armenia, stated that
though the IT sector is announced a priority one by RA Government,
Armenia occupies a poor position by some indicators.

In particular, the number of PCs in Armenia amounts to 150-180
thousand, which means that only 5% of the population uses PCs. The
same situation is about using Internet, which is an important means of
communication for blockaded Armenia. Unfortunately, Armenia occupies
the first place in the world for computer pirating which makes 95%.

Grigor Barseghian also stated that Microsoft is ready to assist the
IT companies in elaboration of the Armenian Computer programs and
fonts. He added that his company has already created the Armenian
version for the Windows XP and continues realization of the Armenian
version of Windows Vista. The company will complete the elaboration
of the Armenian version for Microsoft Office 2007.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress