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Bolivia: Windows and Google in Quechua

Categories: Latin America, Bolivia, Technology

According to Choloblog (ES) [1] the Windows operating system will be known as “T’uqu”, pressing “Kichana” will open a window and “Wuiskana” will close it. “KAH-lyah-ree”, meanwhile, is the phonetic pronunciation of the word which replaces “Start” in Windows’ familiar taskbar, says [2] Prairie Weather. According to Global by Design [3] and Eduardo Arcos [4] Bolivian President Evo Morales will make an announcement with Microsoft officials in Sucre today that the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office software have been localized in Quechua [5], an indigenous language spoken by some 10 million Andean residents. Jimmy Granado, however, takes a much more critical look at the announcement, questioning Evo Morales’ support of Microsoft over free and open source alternatives like Linux (ES) [6]: “I thought that Evo wold follow the steps of Hugo Chavez. Since, if you didn't know, in Venezuela the government uses Free Software, just like Brazil.” Finally, Newley Purnell takes a look [7] at Google Quechua [8].