Microsoft Arabia wins 'Best Arabic Software Developer' in Saudi ICT Awards 2004

The award ceremony coincided with the official opening of Comdex Saudi Arabia 2004, patronized by HRH Prince Abdul Majeed Bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, Governor of Makkah Al Mukarramah region in Saudi Arabia. Prince Abdel-Majeed presented the award to Microsoft Arabia's General Manager, Dr. Khaled Al Dhaher.

Khaled Zarkah, Editor-in-Chief, PC Magazine Arabic said: "In the last few years, the IT and communications market in Saudi Arabia witnessed around 10% growth, thanks to the ambitious plans of the Kingdom's government and the active participation of ICT companies working in the Kingdom."

Zarkah continued: "PC Magazine Arabic, and in appreciation to the role of the efforts of the private sector players in developing ICT in the Kingdom, is presenting ten Awards to Saudi companies. Microsoft Arabia is the winner for 'Best Arabic Software Developer' award, for its role in being a key link between the company's development teams in Redmond and its customers and their needs in the local market. Today, Microsoft launches the same Arabic and English products at the same time."

Arabic is a Tier 1 language for Microsoft. In effect, this means a worldwide commitment to deliver on Arabic language requirements, on par with other key world languages. Microsoft's Arabic testing and localisation team in Saudi Arabia, as well as the rest of the region, ensure that the technology needs of the Arabic community are efficiently met. Extending its commitment further, Microsoft launched MSN Arabia with customised regional content and service offerings.

Microsoft started Arabic support from 1992/93 with MS DOS. Since then, there has been no looking back and Microsoft has provided Arabic language support to Windows 3.1 and Office 4.3. This was followed by similar support for Windows 95, Office 95, NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Internet Explorer 5.0 and Office 2000. In May 2001, Microsoft launched Office XP, in both English and Arabic simultaneously. In October of the same year, Microsoft launched both the English and Arabic versions of its new operating system, Microsoft Windows XP, in the region simultaneously with its global release. On October 21st 2003, Microsoft launched Microsoft Office System in English and Arabic simultaneously.

Dr. Al Dhaher commented saying: "We thank PC Magazine Arabic and DIT for this award, which we're very proud of. Microsoft listens to the local requirements and needs of its customers and builds products, solutions and services from bottom up, taking these requirements into consideration. Arabic is, and will remain, a key focus for Microsoft in this region."