computing

Microsoft has released its latest version of Windows to include the Rwandan language of Kinyarwanda. The operating system now supports 109 languages.

After the release of MS Windows 8 in October, Microsoft has been producing the software in various languages to appeal to and cover the international market.

Jean Philpert Nsengimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT believes the availability of MS Windows 8 in Kinyarwanda will do much for the improvement of information and communications technology literacy.

The Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced plans to organise and modernise its archives, which escaped numerous attempts of being looted or destroyed over the past two decades.

Sheikh Ahmed Nur, director of the ministry's administrative and finance department, said the ministry is planning to assess the entirety of its confidential documents, including treaties and agreements that are related to industrial, military, scientific and technological co-operation.

At least 3,200 teachers who, last year, completed a one-year ICT training course conducted by Rwanda Education Board (REB) will, this academic year be deployed to various schools countrywide.

The teachers will have the responsibility to train other teachers from their respective schools, a strategy the government has designed to promote and build teachers capacity to effectively teach computer skills or ICT.

Dr. Evode Mukama, the Head of ICT in Education department at REB, told The New Times on Tuesday that REB will assign 120 teachers in every district.

Kenya's president has launched a $14.5bn (£9.1bn) project to build a new city intended to be an IT business hub and dubbed "Africa's Silicon Savannah". It will take 20 years to build Konza Technology City about 60km (37 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

It is hoped that more than 20,000 IT jobs will be created in Konza by 2015, and more than 200,000 jobs by 2030.

Despite Kenya's usually divisive politics, the project has the backing of all political parties.

- In a filing to the French stock market regulator, Maroc Telecom has revealed that it plans to invest MAD10 billion (USD1.2 billion) to upgrade its broadband network. The telco, which is 53%-owned by Vivendi and 30%-owned by the Moroccan government, will carry out the investment between now and 2015. Maroc Telecom also stated that it will invest MAD4 billion in its other markets, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mali.

Microsoft has announced that the newest version of its flagship product, MS Windows 8, will also be in Rwanda’s main language, Kinyarwanda.

Microsoft said in a statement that MS Windows 8 is available in 14 new languages, bringing the total number of languages supported to 109. The US software giant released Window 8 in October last year and has since been working on producing the software in different languages to cover the global market.

- The Financial Gazette website in Zimbabwe was hacked last week. Hama Saburi, The Editor-in-Chief of The Financial Gazette said last week measures had since been taken to restore and upgrade the site with more security checks to avoid similar occurrences in future.

The Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) is optimistic that the web-based application it is using for processing the national examinations will produce the desired results.

The Malepa application, used for capturing candidates' registration details, examining personnel details, and payment details for various activities, started operating for the first time during the 2012 national examinations.

Funding for Katine's computer centre runs out in a year, and it's down to local residents to come up with a sustainable plan It's lunchtime, and teenagers, some in school uniform, are huddled around a large boardroom-style table with ageing laptops in Amref's office in Katine.

- MFI pro print, the distribution partner for Hewlett Packard (HP) has launched the new HP Indigo 5600 digital offset printing press into the Nigerian market.

- The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has assured government departments and stakeholders that public information on government websites is secure and well protected.