-----Original Message-----
I was given to understand that Windows 2000 has
multilanguage support, but sitting here on site, there is
some conflict as to whether there is a specific Arabic
version of Windows 2000 Professional. Locally they tell me
no, but a guy in Ireland is insisting that there exists
an "Arabic" version.
.
Don't know if there is a localized Arabic version of W2K
Pro, but it does look like the Multilingual User Interface
packs for Windows 2000 Pro, and the MUI Pack for Office
2000 support Arabic languages. We just recently applied
these packs to our workstations to accommodate newly
opened offices in Germany. After installation, we had the
option to change menus and dialogs in the OS to German
(command windows also displayed some results in German),
and menus and dialogs in the Office applications to
display in German. Some things like Start Menu items
previously set up in English did not change. We also
applied an MUI type addon to IE6 to have menus and dialogs
display in the language selected for the OS.
MUI technology is covered at this site..
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/DrIntl/faqs/MUIFaq.mspx
As a test, I just changed the OS and Office Application
Languages to Arabic on my workstation. After logoff/on,
the desktop focus seems to have shifted to right to left.
Some desktop icons like My Computer are in Arabic, as well
as some Start Menu items. The toolbar and dropdowns in
Word are also in Arabic.
Microsoft had us go through a reseller to obtain the media
for the MUI packs. That was an interesting (and sometimes
confusing) exercise as it doesn't seem to be a very well
known or heard of technology. Lot of back and forth with
Microsoft and the reseller, but eventually we got it
working.
That was a little long winded, but hope it helps.
