Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 05/04) - Paul Meggs is a teacher at Aqsaarniit Ilinniarvik middle school in Iqaluit, a school recognized nationally for being an innovative, computer-savvy school.

When Meggs heard that Microsoft had developed a system that allows users to work entirely in Inuktitut, he was thrilled.

"I think it's amazing," said Meggs. "It adds credibility to the language. It puts it right up there with French and English."

Darlene Nuqingaq is the principal at Aqsaarniit Ilinniarvik school. She called the program very positive, saying "it opens up the world."

Mary Hunt at Tukilik Translation Services in Yellowknife heard about the Windows program recently and is happy about it.

"I use Windows all the time," said Hunt. "It's available all over the world. Why not for us?"

Hunt sees the program as an avenue to build bridges around the North.

"I'd like to communicate with people in other communities with the same software."

Inuktitut Windows is part of Microsoft's new Local Language Program.

It allows users to localize both Windows XP and Office 2003 to a specific language interface through a Language Interface Pack (LIP), that may be downloaded free of charge.

Inuktitut becomes the first Canadian Aboriginal language to be available in a Microsoft program.