Underscoring the increasing interest in globalization and localization among our audience of content and web professionals are three items this week. Today we announced that the the LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association) Forum will co-locate with the Gilbane conferences starting with Gilbane San Francisco April 10- 12, 2007. Last Friday, Kaija Poysti, introduced herself as our new guest blogger covering translation and localization issues (in her post, she doesn’t actually propose it, but she does point us to some reasons why we should just all speak Finnish). And, this coming Wednesday, we co-host a case-study webinar on how Sun has built a a global customer experience with their online content and branding.
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I am starting to blog here on mainly globalization and localization, and the many issues they bring to end users and organizations. To give you an idea about what my views and thoughts are based on, here is a short background:
As a native Finnish speaker I realized early on why languages do matter – very few people outside Finland speak any Finnish, despite its many quaint characteristics, such as 16 cases formed by adding endings to nouns. In addition, I studied operations research and systems analysis at the Helsinki University of Technology, which gave me a tendency to look at everything as processes which can be optimized.
For 14 years, I had a localization service company, Trantex, which translated a lot of software and documentation for major sw providers, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, etc., and also did technical writing and training. In 1997 we sold the company to L&H and I moved to Boston, where I later became a consultant to Finnish high-tech companies entering the US market.
After all the years I spent in the localization world, I have kept following the industry, as I think there are very interesting developments and challenges ahead. In 1985 a translation customer told me that I should start looking for a new job, as all computer users will want to use only English software. Since then, the number of languages into which companies have to translate their materials has at least tripled. With the web and now with wikis and blogs, information can be published instantly 24/7 all over the world, and much of it is or needs to be in languages other than English. After all, only 5% of the world’s population are native English speakers (354 million according to Wikipedia).
I welcome comments and discussion – though preferably in English :0).
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced the immediate availability of the Adobe Acrobat Connect software product line for communicating and collaborating instantly through real-time, interactive web conferencing. The Acrobat Connect product line addresses online collaboration needs from casual to intensive web conferencing users. The entry-level Acrobat Connect hosted service provides users with essential collaboration tools, such as screen sharing, whiteboarding, chat, video conferencing, and audio conferencingall for unlimited usage for up to 15 participants for one low monthly fee. Additionally, with one-button “Start Meeting” access from Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader 8 software, users can launch Acrobat Connect directly from a document to start collaborating immediately. The entire Acrobat family consists of Acrobat 8 Professional, Acrobat 8 Standard, Acrobat 8 Elements, Acrobat 3D Version 8, Acrobat Connect, and Acrobat Connect Professional. The Acrobat Connect hosted service is currently available as a free trial version through the end of the current calendar year. The commercial release of Acrobat Connect, initially available in English, is expected to be available in January 2007 for a subscription price of US$39 per month, or US$395 per year per personal meeting room. Acrobat Connect Professional is available in English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean, starting at US$15,000 depending on configuration, and is licensed on a named user, as well as concurrent port basis. Existing licensed customers of the Macromedia Breeze solution with up-to-date maintenance plans may be eligible for updates to Acrobat Connect Professional and new versions of the Adobe Connect servers. Adobe also released Reader 8, which features a new, streamlined interface with user customizable toolbars. Adobe Acrobat Professional users can now enable Adobe Reader users to fill and submit forms, save data and digitally sign documents. Adobe Reader 8 also has graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, which boosts performance when viewing graphics-intense PDF files, such as 3D content. A free trial version of Acrobat Connect Professional is available at http://www.adobe.com/go/tryconnectpro, http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader/
I had the pleasure of moderating the Content Globalization Workflows session at last week’s Gilbane Boston conference. Although we were the last session on the last day, the room was filled with interactive participants with very specific issues and questions. The underlying theme? The act of translation is not the “stress-buster” for globalization projects. It’s the process. Managing it, understanding it, aligning it, integrating it — you name it. Globalization has process-centric red flags from the get-go.
The good news is that globalization as a recognized enterprise business practice continues to gain traction. In fact, our audience cited “global, simultaneous product shipments” as one of the most distinct and well-understood business drivers at the executive and cross-departmental levels. Even better, there are achievable, significant cost savings to be had. The description of a first-year, $2.4 million savings realized by GE Healthcare was impressive, to say the least. Many thanks to Jeanette Eichholz, a Leader in the Global Ultrasound User Documentation group, for sharing her story.
The Gilbane Group is working to keep the subject of globalization in the spotlight as a key issue for 2007 to help organizations understand that cost savings is actually only the cusp of the benefits. Rapid market reach, consistent brand management, and increased customer satisfaction are equally viable, and more importantly, quantifiable.
To that end, join us for our December 13th webinar, “How Sun Takes Brands and Solutions to the Global Marketplace.” Sponsored by Interwoven and SDL International, understanding Sun’s success factors will be a valuable learning experience for any organization with globalization on the agenda.
Date: 13th December, 2006
Time: 8:30 Pacific, 11:30 Eastern, 16:30 GMT, 17:30 Central Europe
Duration: 1 hour
Register here.
The final results of the survey are at: https://gilbane.com/gilbaneboston_keynote_survey.html. We really appreciate the input from all of you who participated. The winner of the drawing for a free conference pass to a future Gilbane Conference has been notified, so if you contributed, check your email. We’ll announce the winner once we receive their permission.
There are two new posts on the CTO Blog to check out: Eric Severson on XML and Office 2.0, and Carl Sutter on What is the future of software as a service.
Bitrix Inc. announces the release of new Bitrix Site Manager 5.1 – web content management system. The new version has been globally tested and optimized. There is a new AJAX-enabled user interface, and a new module to create blogs, training courses, examination tests, and manage affiliate networks. The e-Store now features a flexible system of discounts and coupons. Version 5.1 offers a new tabbed Control Panel with the three modes: “Public section” to view the site as-is; “Edit site” in which system control areas are highlighted and powered with management tools; and the common “Control Panel.” The new interface provides for fast switching between the three modes. For convenience, the tab bar can be pinned on top of the browser window. All product editions now can import and export data from/to information blocks in the CSV format (e.g. for communication with MS Excel). The Small Business edition now contains the Forum and Newsletter modules. The Professional and Enterprise editions now include the Blogs and e-Learning modules. Additionally, the Enterprise edition is empowered with the AD/LDAP module. All users of older versions of Bitrix Site Manager whose techsupport subscription is active can update their systems for free via the SiteUpdate to upgrade to Bitrix Site Manager 5.1. You can test-drive Bitrix Site Manager by downloading and installing the fully functional trial version at http://www.bitrixsoft.com/download/
In my last post I said that composition vendors weren’t very far along with their content partnerships. Nasser Barghouti, the Chief Technology Officer at Document Sciences set the record straight before I could finish my Thanksgiving turkey. Mr. Barghouti informed me that Document Sciences has had a long and successful integration partnership with both Filenet and Documentum. In fact, the next major release of the Xpression Product Suite, will offer an embedded OEM version of Documentum. Document Sciences wants to be able to give customers the choice of a bundled solution or open integration. I expect to see a lot more partnerships of this type and more CM OEM deals with leading composition players.
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