A localised version of Microsoft Windows is in the offing for the people of Bhutan. Launching in 2003, This is expected to replace seven incompatible Dzongkha (the Bhutanese language) computer systems, ensuring that the Tibetan script fonts are displayed the same way for the first time. But what has motivated Microsoft to offer Windows for Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan kingdom with variously estimated 800,000 or 2 million people, a parity (with the US) per capita purchasing power of $1,100 a year? In 2000, there were just 500 Internet users in this largely agrarian country, according to the CIA World Factbook 2001.
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