On Software Freedom Day, 28th August, Translate.org.za will be announcing the official release of OpenOffice.org in Afrikaans, Zulu and Northern Sotho. Many thanks to all those who have made this possible: our translators, our testers, our sponsors and of course OpenOffice.org.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE IN ZULU, AFRIKAANS, AND SEPEDI BREAKS DOWN LANGUAGE BARRIERS TO LEARNING AND E-COMMERCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Computer Software in South African languages available on Global Software Freedom Day

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (19 August, 2004) – History is being made with the translation of computer software into a number of South Africa's official languages ahead of the first annual Global Software Freedom Day.

Translate.org.za, a South African software translation project, has spent two years developing this software with the sponsorship of the Shuttleworth Foundation, the Department of Communications, CSIR, Obsidian Systems (a leading South African Linux and Open Source company), Hewlett Packard (South Africa) and St James Software.

"We are about to launch the first African language word processor, quality software in South African language," said an ecstatic Dwayne Bailey, founder and director of the Zuza Software Foundation, of which Translate.org.za is an ongoing project.

"This is the first Africans-helping-Africans, no strings attached Free Software word processor. It has always been my dream that one day fellow South Africans would be using computers with quality software in their mother tongues. So far we have translated software into Zulu, Sepedi and Afrikaans," he added.

Translate.org.za translator, Thobile Mhlongo, agrees. She said: "Using OpenOffice.org in Zulu was phenomenal. Seeing my language used on a computer made me think of all the school children, grannies and other proud Zulu speakers who will use this software."

On August 28, 2004, the first annual Software Freedom Day (SFD) will be celebrated worldwide, including many venues across South Africa. In Gauteng, SITA is organising a series of events. Their keynote speaker will be DPSA Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who has shown interest in the work of Translate.org.za

The aim of SFD is to make the world more aware of the virtues of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and encourage its widespread use. The day will be marked by a global grassroots marketing campaign and in Gauteng a Linux installation festival.

Bailey will be a guest speaker at the Software Freedom Day celebrations alongside Minister Fraser-Moleketi at the Di-Data Campus, which will be attended by South African businesses, international and pan-African companies, government and parastatals on August 28th, 2004.

Dwayne Bailey is available for interviews. His fields of specialisation include:

• Free and Open Source Software
• Multilingualism
• Software translation
• Language rights advocacy

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Janet Sebastian (+27 82 584 0211) @ Africa Reports
Linda Martindale (+27 83 270 0719) @ Africa Reports