Great news for Windows users. It may not have any effect on Linux but
will clearly bring about some stability on the font. Quoting below
from Kaumudi.com 13 November 2002


Bill Gates agrees to give special focus to Kerala
NEW DELHI: Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates has agreed to
treat Kerala as a special focus state for his area of work, besides
extending Windows XP local language support to Malayalam.

Gates has also agreed to include Kerala in his itinerary during his
next visit, Industries and IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty said after
holding discussions with Gates today.

Kunhalikutty said he had highlighted the strong points of Kerala like
cent per cent literacy, high level of health care and life
expectancy, industrious nature of people, and better infrastructure
to make the State an ideal IT destination. He said the State
Government has given priority to e-governance.

The decision to extend Microsoft's Windows XP local language support
to Malayalam would considerably increase the usage of computer and
speed up the process of e-Governance, he said.

Gates today announced that Malayalam and Bengali would be given the
Windows XP local language support with the help of local partners
thereby increasing the number of Indian languages supported by it to
11.The Indian languages already covered are Hindi, Sanskrit, Konkani,
Marathi, Tamil, Gurmukhi, Telugu, Kannada and Gujarati.

Kunhalikutty was accompanied by a high level delegation of the IT
Department including its Secretary Aruna Sunder Raj.

Asked why Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony did not meet Gates like
other Chief Ministers, Mr Kunhali Kutty said his mission had the full
support of Antony.