Linux and Main: Hancom Linux Targets Middle Eastern Market with New Distro, Productivity Suite

"Hancom Linux, the Korean company known chiefly outside Korea for its Hancom Office productivity suite, is shipping what is believed to be the first Arab-language Linux distribution.

"In an interview with Linux and Main, Bart Decrem, Hancom Linux Vice President for Business Development, said that pursuing markets outside the U.S. is a tremendous opportunity for Linux in both server and desktop platforms, especially when offered by non-U.S. distributors. "'America isn't very popular in every country,' he said. 'So in my opinion there's great opportunity for companies like ours, first of all in Asia, which is our home base, but I think now with the Arab announcement there are going to be some interesting opportunities for us. We're working on a big deal with the Tunisian government, but then elsewhere in the Arab world, and because of double-byte we get to do Hebrew and all sorts of other languages as well, because now our software is bidirectional...'"

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Saudi LUG: Linux Arabization Project(Aug 18, 2000)
• Linux4Arab.com: Complete Arabic Support for Linux��(Jul 15, 2000)
• First Arabic Language Linux User Group(Aug 17, 1999)
• Linux for the first time in Arab Magazine Alam Al-Computer wa Al-Internet(Aug 17, 1999)