To this day, technology in the translation industry has been largely dominated
by a handful of proprietary applications.
Linguas OS is a Linux distribution created specifically for professionals in
the translation industry, including Free Open Source Software tools to perform
all of the tasks that professional translators must do every day in their work.
The tools Linguas OS provides include:
-
OpenOffice office suite for creation and manipulation of all major office file
formats (including those generated by MSOffice products),
-
OmegaT, a Computer Aided Translation (CAT) program for creation of translation
memories.
-
Other basic tools for creation and manipulation of pdf, html, xml, po, and
other files that translators and localizers deal with on a daily basis.
-
Planner, project management application based on the Gantt project.
-
The usual tools for internet communications and research so necessary to the
trade, chat software, ftp software and related networking tools. (the next
release is envisioned to include: TransProCalc, a calculator for financial data
relevant to translation projects; bitext2tmx, a text aligner to create TMs from
legacy translations, and Java Open Language Tools for treatment of Xliff
files).
Linguas OS is built upon PCFluxboxOS, but comes configured with the translation
tools mentioned above, and additional documentation and scripts to facilitate
use of the system for those experimenting with Linux for the first time. In
order to keep the system small enough to fit on one live cd, while including
the industry specific translation tools, Linguas OS does not include multimedia
software and other extras on the live cd system. Of course, such software can
be easily added to the system, once installed to the hard drive, with the
synaptic package manager. Linguas OS, being based on PCLinuxOS, has access to
thousands of applications currently available in the PCLOS repositories.
What makes Linguas OS notable:
Sure, there are already translators using Linux who have found the solutions to
enable them to compete and work in the industry (the author is one of them),
but, until now, there hasn't been a distribution specifically tailored to the
translators's needs. Linguas OS, as such, comes pre-packaged with the
translator's most needed tools, most notably, CAT software. Said software is
maintained in the distro's packages via synaptic, so the user does not have to
seek it out and install from source, etc., thus facilitating the translator's
use of a linux operating system, enabling the user to focus on his work, and
not maintaining his software.
Additionally, Linguas OS was created, and is maintained by a successful
translator and translation agency owner who is intimately familiar with the
needs of professionals in the translation trade.
Advantages / Disadvantages:
The advantages of both FOSS and gnu/linux, in general, have been adequately
discussed elsewhere.
The advantages of FOSS and gnu/linux to professionals in the translation
industry are no different, the two most notable advantages being the reduction
of overhead for software licenses and increased efficiency and productivity for
use of a more stable and secure system.
The advantages of Linguas OS, specifically, to those working in the translation
trade, are that it is a prepackaged distro with all of the tools a translator
needs pre-installed and easily maintainable. Also, from a technology
perspective, Linguas OS is a small, quick system, using fluxbox as it's default
window manager. The .iso for the distro includes the most needed translation
software applications and office applications, but comes packed with little
else. The download is light, at 412 mb, and the system will run as a Live CD,
enabling the user to download it quickly, fire off a CD and load it up for
trial purposes.
Installation to the hard drive, even along side another OS, is made simple with
the drak-live installer. Once installed, the synaptic package manager puts
thousands of additional applications at the user's fingertips, with only a few
clicks of the mouse. Also, Linguas OS has created a community of professional
translators experienced with the tools Linguas OS offers, and seasoned Linux
users, to provide support for those new to these tools.
Linguas OS doesn't claim to be the flame that will cleanse the translation
industry of the proprietary software disease. Essentially, Linguas OS: a)
attempts to give translators a platform for experimenting with the tools that
are available in FOSS for the trade, in a quick and light Live CD distribution,
as well as, b) provide an easily maintained, preconfigured OS for translators
that are already using, or wish to begin using Linux for their work. There are
some potential drawbacks for those coming from a Windows background, which
would include the vast majority of professionals working in the translation
industry. In order to include the software most needed by translators, and
still keep the distro on a live-cd, Linguas OS uses fluxbox as its default
window manager, which is not exactly an intuitive environment for a first-time
Linux user. KDE or Gnome would seem to be much more viable options for a system
aimed at introducing Linux to professionals in an industry already dominated by
other, proprietary operating systems. The Linguas OS community, however, is in
the process of creating documentation, even for included packages that already
have documentation, to make the use of the included software, wm, package
management system, etc., as easy as possible for those new to Linux. This
documentation is progressively becoming available on the Linguas OS wiki, and
will be incuded in the next release. Additionally, of course, the user can
easily add KDE, Gnome, or XFCE with only a few clicks, which is explained in
the Linguas OS documentation. Also, although the industry is hungry for
alternatives to the costly proprietary tools that have until now dominated it,
there is resistance within the industry to change, as is the case in many other
industries.
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