Multilingual Support in Windows
2000 Professional: Choosing the Right Version for
Your Organization
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Contents
Modern businesses use
networks to reach around the world, connecting with people
who speak almost every language. At the same time, even
businesses that never reach beyond town have employees and
customers using multiple languages. To conduct business in
this environment, you need desktop operating systems that
seamlessly support more than one language. The Windows 2000
Professional operating system reflects customer feedback and
provides sophisticated support for multilingual computing.
Windows 2000 Professional is designed to:
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Make it easier for users
to work in mixed-language environments.
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Reduce the total cost of
ownership (TCO) for deploying and managing multiple
language environments. |
This document explains how
Microsoft�s multilingual technology works, and provides a
brief overview of how different versions of Windows 2000
Professional use the technology.
Windows 2000 Professional
Products
To meet the multilingual
needs of businesses, Microsoft offers the following
products:
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Windows 2000
Professional, English Version.
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Windows 2000
Professional, localized versions (available with a user
interface in one of 23 fully localized languages other
than English).
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Windows 2000
Professional, MultiLanguage Version (providing UIs in
all 24 fully localized languages). |
Each of these products is
ideally suited for a particular type of business
environment. All of these products support input, editing,
display and printing in hundreds of different languages. For
example, it is possible to edit documents in Arabic (and
hundreds of other languages) on the Japanese localized
language version, or to edit documents in Russian (and
hundreds of other languages) on the English version. This
support enables users around the world to communicate in
languages that previously required dedicated operating
systems and applications.
In addition, Windows 2000
Professional, MultiLanguage Version will be of particular
interest to businesses with multiple language requirements.
This version enhances the support of the other Windows 2000
Professional versions by allowing the language in the user
interface to be switched according to user preference. (The
MultiLanguage version is available to Microsoft Open License
Program (MOLP/Open), Select and Enterprise agreement
customers only. For more information on these programs,
visit the Microsoft
Licensing site.
The following table summarizes the
multilingual support provided by each version of Windows
2000 Professional:
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| Multilingual
Support in Windows 2000 Professional |
|
| |
English
Version |
Localized
Versions |
MultiLanguage
Versions |
|
| Multilingual
Features for Users |
| User interface (menus, help
files, dialog boxes and folder names) in English
language.
| | Users can input, edit, view and
print in hundreds of different languages. |
|
| User interface (menus, help
files, dialog boxes and folder names) in the
language of the particular localized version
(Japanese, for example).
| | Users can input, edit, view and
print in hundreds of different languages. |
|
| User interface (menus, help
files, and dialog boxes) can be switched by
users to the language they prefer.
| | Users can input, edit, view and
print in hundreds of different languages. |
|
|
| Multilingual
Benefits for IT Professionals |
| Provides support for working
with documents in other languages.
Ideal if you:
| | Do not have significant need
for a UI in more than the English language in
your environment. |
|
| Provides support for working
with documents in other languages.
| | Provides fully localized user
interface.
Ideal if you:
| | Need to deploy and support only
one localized language UI (Japanese, for
example) in your environment. |
|
| Provides support for working
with documents in other languages.
| | Allows you to manage a single
operating system code base for the entire
enterprise.
Ideal if you:
| | Need to deploy and support UIs
in more than one language in your environment.
| | Need to reduce the TCO of
deploying and maintaining multiple language
versions of your operating system. |
|
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Multilingual Support
in Windows 2000 Professional
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to Top |
Multilingual support in the Windows 2000
Professional product family includes two distinct features:
| Multilingual editing and viewing
functionality.
| | The switchable user interface that
comes with only the Windows 2000 Professional,
MultiLanguage Version. |
Multilingual Features
The multilingual editing and viewing
features allow users to work with information in many
different languages. For example, a user with the Windows
2000 Professional, English Version, can input, edit, display
and print a Japanese document without requiring a localized
Japanese version of the operating system.
These features can be found in all
versions of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000
Server, including the English and localized versions. This
support is ideal for users who only occasionally need to
communicate in another language.
Multilingual Technology
Editing, processing and viewing documents
in multiple languages are made possible by several key
aspects of the architecture in Windows 2000 Professional.
The technology is described in more detail below.
Unicode Support
Windows 2000 Professional uses Unicode�
version 2.1 as its base character encoding. Unicode is an
international standard representing the characters in common
use in the world�s major languages. Unicode allows
unambiguous, plain text representation of data, which
simplifies sharing of data in a mixed platform environment.
National Language Support API
National Language Support in Windows 2000
Professional consists of a set of system tables that provide
the following information:
| Locale information such as date, time,
number or currency format, or localized names of
countries, languages or days of the month and week.
| | Character mapping tables that map local
character encodings (ANSI or OEM) to Unicode or vice
versa.
| | Keyboard layout information, character
typing information and sorting information. |
Users can change system settings in the
Regional Options control panel to reflect a chosen locale.
Multilingual API
The Multilingual API (MLAPI) allows
applications to handle keyboard input and fonts from
different language versions. For example, it changes the
keyboard layout tables or the fonts used to display text. It
also handles text layout issues. For example, it displays
vertical text for Japanese, or right-to-left text containing
ligatures for Arabic. Applications that use the MLAPI will
contain basic, transparent support for creating
mixed-language documents.
Resource Files
With Windows 2000 Professional,
language-specific information is stored in separate resource
files. This includes information such as the text in menus,
dialog boxes and Help files. Separating the text allows the
system code to be shared by all language versions of Windows
2000 Professional�the only changes are in the
language-specific resource files.
Multilingual Developer Support
Developers can use the National Language
Support API and the Multilingual API to write generic code
to handle data input, storage and display for a large number
of languages.
For more information about these API sets,
please see the documentation available on the Microsoft
Developer Network.
More information about developing
multilingual applications can be found on Microsoft�s
Global Software Development site.
Which Version is Right for Your
Organization?
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to Top |
Windows 2000 Professional, English
Version
The Windows 2000 Professional, English
Version is designed for companies that conduct business
mostly in English but have some users who work in additional
languages. This, like all versions, supports the
multilingual viewing and editing features that allow users
to read and write documents in hundreds of different
languages.
For example, the English version would be
ideal for a United Kingdom financial office opening its
first international office in Hong Kong. Most communication
between the offices will be in English, but personnel in the
Hong Kong office will need to communicate with customers and
suppliers in both English and Chinese. The multilingual
technology in Windows 2000 Professional allows you to create
and view documents in Chinese when needed.
Organizations that benefit most from this
version include:
| Organizations with a user base that
requires English as the UI language for all their work.
| | Users who need to read and write
documents in additional languages, but want to operate
in an environment that uses an English UI. |
Windows 2000 Professional, Localized
Versions
The Windows 2000 Professional localized
versions are designed for organizations that conduct the
majority of their business in a single language other than
English.
For example, the Windows 2000
Professional, Japanese Version would be ideal for a regional
firm based in Japan that primarily serves Japanese
customers. The occasional documents received from vendors in
French, English or other languages still can be handled and
processed in the Windows 2000 Professional, Japanese
Version.
Because every localized version includes
multilingual viewing and editing features, administrators or
users can install the character sets for other languages,
including letters and numbers, local currency symbols, and
other settings.
Companies that benefit most from localized
versions include:
| Organizations that operate mainly in
one language other than English.
| | Organizations with only occasional need
to use multiple languages in their environment. |
Windows 2000 Professional, MultiLanguage
Version
The Windows 2000 Professional,
MultiLanguage Version provides an extra level of
multilingual capability by allowing users to change the
language of the operating system user interface. This means
a user can log on to a workstation and use Windows 2000
Professional in any of 24 languages�provided an
administrator has installed the appropriate language files.
Additionally, the user will be able to edit and view
documents in the hundreds of languages supported in all
Windows 2000 Professional versions.
Specific benefits of Windows 2000
Professional, MultiLanguage Version include:
| Single worldwide deployment.
Businesses can deploy a single version of Windows 2000
Professional to users worldwide. This reduces the costs
associated with the deployment of different language
versions, including testing applications separately or
creating unique installation scripts. Users can select
the language they prefer, or the administrator can
establish the language through Group Policy.
| | Simplified support and
administration. Using a single worldwide version
eliminates the costs associated with maintaining systems
in separate languages. For example, administrators can
apply a single service pack worldwide rather than using
resources to deploy separate service packs for each
language version. With the Windows 2000 Professional
Setup manager, the graphical tool for creating automated
installation scripts, administrators can set a locale
for a system to ensure the proper symbols, keyboard,
currency, and so on are installed by default. Using a
single worldwide version also means support desk
personnel can more easily troubleshoot and correct
problems.
| | Shared workstations. Windows
2000 Professional, MultiLanguage Version users who
conduct their daily tasks in different languages can
share workstations. For example, an international
import-export firm in New York City might staff its
customer service department in shifts to coincide with
the workdays of Europe, Asia and the Americas. The
computer�s primary UI is in English, but at least one
additional language is used frequently on the
workstation. With each shift change, the desktop
operating system can be switched to the language of the
employee beginning his or her workday. Note that the UI
language is a user property and is part of the user�s
profile, thus it can follow the user to different
computers in the same corporate environment. |
Companies that benefit most from this
version include:
| Organizations that need to deploy and
manage several language versions.
| | Organizations with multilingual
employees who use different languages but share the same
PC. |
Windows 2000 Professional, Localized
Versions
For the availability of the 24 localized
versions of Windows 2000 Professional (including English)
please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. You can find
contact information for the various subsidiaries at the Microsoft
Worldwide Information site.
Windows 2000 Professional, MultiLanguage
Version
The Windows 2000 Professional,
MultiLanguage Version gives users a choice of UI in any of
the 24 languages in which Windows 2000 is fully localized.
The initial release with 11 different UI languages is
expected to ship approximately 6 weeks after the English
version of Windows 2000 Professional. A refresh release with
additional UI languages is expected to ship approximately
five months after the Windows 2000 Professional, English
Version.
| Initial
Release: |
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Chinese (Simplified),
Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, French,
German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Swedish |
| Refresh
Release: |
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Arabic, Brazilian,
Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian,
Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish |
The Windows 2000 Professional
MultiLanguage Version will not be available in retail
stores. It will be sold only through Volume Licensing
programs such as Microsoft Open License Program (MOLP/Open),
Select and Enterprise agreement.
The Microsoft Open License program is
designed to provide a simple volume licensing solution for
small and medium-sized businesses, or government and
educational organizations with as few as five PCs or as many
as several thousand.
Microsoft Select is a volume
software-licensing program designed for business, government
and education customers with more than 1,000 desktops.
Microsoft Enterprise Agreements are
designed for customers who have made the technology decision
to use Microsoft's platform of products, and who are able to
commit to a fixed number of desktop licenses for a
three-year period.
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