Two New Softwares to Write in Odia

Software-I on Nov 10, 2009
New software to write in Odia

The Pioneer, Nov 10, 2009
Biswajit Padhi , Bhubaneswar

Now, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik can write his speech in Odia, thanks to a software platform developed by an Odia software engineer, Suchit Das, and his team.

Mo Odisha Mahan (My Odisha is Great), is what were the first lines that Kumudini Das, a non-resident Odia (NRO) wrote to her grandson Suchit Das in Bhubaneswar. This is the best birthday gift that I ever got, said Kumudini, the iron lady, now in her eighties, said.

Coming from a traditional well-to-do family, she stays outside the country with her elder son. Odia is the only language she is conversant with. “My grandchildren are into English medium schools and my son and daughter-in-law have very little time after a strenuous day in office. I was not able to exchange my thoughts with my children and grandchildren until Suchit solved my problem,” she added.

“When my grandmother expressed her sorrow for her inablility to catch up with us here in Bhubaneswar, I could sense the sadness in her voice. She didn't know English alphabets and the alien country didn't allow her grandchildren to learn anything other than English. Knowing that there are many like my grandmother, I set into motion to develop a software platform which is compatible with Orkut,” said 33-year-old Suchit Das.

Though efforts are on, the Unicode font is not developed properly yet. So it is not possible to write in Odia in different browsers with Unicode font support. I along with my six-member team developed an alternative by converting Odia text into images on-the-fly, said a beaming Suchit. Since images can be shown in a browser in an independent manner easily, we chose this format said, Biswajit Panda. Since Java is trustworthy, people won't hesitate to download it and this is the reason why he chose to hoist it in Java, informed Niranjan Patra. The fonts have been uploaded on our website www.orissaonweb.com, informed Sagar Panda. You just have to install Java from the site, added Padmalochan Pradhan.

It took almost three months to complete, added Gitesh Mallick. This can not only revolutionise the way Odias interact with each other but can also make life easier for many who find it hard to type Odia alphabets using the keyboard, said Monalisa Dash, another team member. We are working on 'sending e-mails in Odia' module and suppose to launch it in a couple of days, informed Suchit.

With Naveen Patnaik's penchant for Odia speech nowadays, this is the perfect solution for him, opined, Pradeep Mohanty, a city-based journalist. I don't like the way he mispronounces Odia words which is because he uses Roman scripts to write his Odia speeches.

Now he can himself type his own speech in perfect Odia, all by clicking on the tabs on the screen and what is more, he can send it across to friends and even journalists through Orkut by copy-pasting the dynamically generated HTML codes, added fellow journalist Ashutosh. Netizens can now popularise the Odia language globally by using this tool.

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Software-II on Nov 27, 2009
Dear All,

It is my pleasure to let you know that Best Free Odia Editor , Aprant Odia Sampadaka/ Keboard Manager is now available.

Due to some of its unique and great features I am sure this amazing product will surely revolutionize Odia language not only on computers but also heavily on Web.

It is available both as Free and Commercial version.

Please visit the product page
http://www.aparts.org/products/aprant-font-odia-key-board-manager/

Uniqueness of Aprant Odia Sampadaka
===============================

1. Type Phonetically on any Windows based Editor ( So far upto Windows XP is supported . Vista and Windows 7 version will be released soon. ) . Inscript typing mode is also available. Type directly on Notepad, Wordpad, MS Word, Power Point, MS Excel , Pagemakers etc.
2. Availaible in FREE version ( for personal use only ).
3. Fully compatible on Web with old and new browsers including IE/Firefox/Safari etc.
4. Now you can forget building READ-ONLY Odia websites but make it interactive and have visitor's participation. It means you can build Odia Blogs, Odia Forums and what not very easily ?
5. Commercial version is the cheapest Odia Software on the earth.
6. Create PDF files and distribute to anyone without worrying the viewer for the fonts to view it.

Version Comparison
===================
http://www.aparts.org/products/aprant-font-odia-key-board-manager/aprant-version-comparison/

Phonetic Typing Guidelines
==========================
http://www.aparts.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/phonetic_guide_final.pdf

Aprant in Action : Screenshots
==============================
http://www.aparts.org/products/aprant-font-odia-key-board-manager/screenshots-various-application-aprant/

Quick Start Guide
=====================
http://www.aparts.org/products/aprant-font-odia-key-board-manager/quick-start-guid-aprant-sampadaka/

Download Page
=============
http://www.aparts.org/products/aprant-font-odia-key-board-manager/download-aprant-kbdm/


Aprant Sampadaka & Fonts are copyright to AP Arts International LLC, NJ USA. Please read license agreement for details.

Acknowledgment
=============
My sincere thanks to Debu Rath , USA for gifting Odias the so far great free editor Odiphone in the past which was based on CDAC's free font Sarala . I also appreciate Shri Biswajit Khandei's ( USA ) effort in extending Debu Rath's work by making it Java based Editor "Pandulipi".

Prashant K Sahoo
 
AP Arts releases free Odia keyboard manager

The Pioneer, Nov 30, 2009
Aurobinda Das, Rourkela

A US-based organisation for Odias has released a free Odia keyboard manager for easy use. According to chief executive of AP Arts International LLC, USA and director of AP Info Arts Pvt Ltd, Rourkela, Prashant K Sahoo, the world's best free Odia keyboard manager and editor has been named 'Aprant Odia Sampadaka'.

As of today though efforts are on, Unicode Odia fonts have not been developed properly and standardised due to which there have been a lot of flaws in the usage of maatras and juktakshyaras in Unicode Odia making it impossible to write flawlessly in Odia in different browsers with Unicode font support.

While Indian languages like Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, etc are marching ahead with its rich features and sophistication of usage on computers and World Wide Web (WWW), Odia language has been far behind.

The current version of Aprant Keyboard Manager is based on ASCII characters with an aim for Unicode support in its next version. It is user-friendly in many ways particularly in terms of its dual keyboard typing mode, phonetic and inscript.

While the first one is addressed to laymen and who don't have much speed on keyboard, the latter one is for professional computer operators and DTP professionals.

Sahoo is confident that the user-friendly keyboard manager will not only revolutionise the way Odia is being used on computers and internet but it can also make life easier for many who find it hard to type Odia alphabets using the keyboard.

And its absolutely free version will surely reach throughout the world easily. As it is a keyboard manager, one can easily type Odia on any Windows-based editor or application like MS Word, WordPad, Notepad, PageMaker, Quark Express, etc. exactly the way one types English flawlessly. It's so easy and convenient that just open your favourite text processor, select the font and start typing Odia like never before, reiterates Sahoo.

The power of this technology is the way it is compatible with the web for both viewing and writing on different browsers.

Its dynamic font known as Aprant Dynamic Font is supported not only by old versions but also new versions of popular web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Aprant Odia Sampadaka is available both in free and commercial license versions, informed Sahoo.