Ubuntu and the Power of Language
One of the three fundamental principles of the Ubuntu philosophy is the availability of software in a user’s native language, whatever that happens to be. While those of us who grew up speaking one of the world’s top 10 languages might never give linguistic freedom a second thought, this is an area where Ubuntu clearly outperforms its proprietary competitors.
Windows XP SP2, according to Microsoft, supports 43 languages.[1] I’m unable to find reliable figures for Mac OS X or Vista, but I’d be surprised if they’re much better.
Ubuntu 8.04, in contrast, is available in more than 150 translations.[2] Granted, this number hardly represents all of the written languages on the planet, and the translations of many of those which are supported remain quite incomplete.
