Avro Keyboard
Encyclopedia
Avro Keyboard is a free
and open source
, graphical
keyboard layout changer for the Microsoft Windows
operating system
, Ubuntu
and other flavours of Linux
. It is the first free Unicode
and ANSI
-compliant Bengali keyboard interface
for Windows that was published on 26 March 2003. Avro has support for fixed keyboard layout and its own phonetic (type Bengali
through its romanized transliteration) layout. Assamese
language can be written too. The software has a keyboard layout editor, a portable edition and various tools and fonts.
. It was first published on web for free download on 26 March 2003 under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Initially, it was developed in Visual Basic
, which was later transferred to Delphi
. The Linux version of it was written in C++. Avro was further developed by M. M. Rifat-Un-Nabi, Tanbin Islam Siyam, Ryan Kamal, Shabab Mustafa and Nipon Haque from OmicronLab. The latest stable version of Avro Keyboard is 5.1.0 which was released on 1 January 2011. Avro phonetic for Linux is available with source code. After discussion, OmicronLab published the source code of windows version under MPL 1.1
license with the Avro Keyboard 5.0.5 public beta 1.
Other features include:
, hackers were responsible for spreading pirated copies of his Bijoy on the internet. He accused UNDP to help these hackers. He further claimed that UNDP had remarkable influence for selecting Avro for national ID database project by Bangladesh Election Commission
. On the other hand, Avro developers denied all allegation against them. In addition, they charged Jabbar for continuous harassment in different stages and media by calling them thief and for that their petition was ignored there. They said that the developers behind Bengali computing happened to work under threat of legal persecution and law enforcing agencies. They indicated that Jabbar complained against Avro after losing around 5 crore taka business in Bangladesh Election commission that used free Avro software instead of commercial Bijoy in the nation ID database project.
The Avro team was praised for saving around 5 crore taka of Bangladesh Election commission.
office in Agargaon
, Dhaka at presence of many IT experts. According to that, Khan removes the UniBijoy keyboard layout from Avro keyboard software and Jabbar withdraws the allegation of copyright violation from Bangladesh copyright office by 20 August 2010. As a result, UniBijoy keyboard layout was removed from the Avro Keyboard version 4.5.2 which was released on 20 August 2010. Jabbar informed that the trial in copy right office is withheld and will be withdrawn. He congratulated Khan and said, I am respectful to his creativity and expecting the development of Avro software.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
, graphical
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
keyboard layout changer for the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
and other flavours of Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. It is the first free Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
and ANSI
Ansi
Ansi is a village in Kaarma Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia....
-compliant Bengali keyboard interface
Bengali input methods
Bengali input methods refer to different systems developed to type Bengali language characters using a typewriter or a computer keyboard.-Typewriter:In the 1960s, Munier Choudhury created the first scientifically analysed key layout for typewriters...
for Windows that was published on 26 March 2003. Avro has support for fixed keyboard layout and its own phonetic (type Bengali
Bengali script
The Bengali alphabet is the writing system for the Bengali language. The script with variations is used for Assamese and is basis for Meitei, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Kokborok, Garo and Mundari alphabets. All these languages are spoken in the eastern region of South Asia. Historically, the script has...
through its romanized transliteration) layout. Assamese
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
language can be written too. The software has a keyboard layout editor, a portable edition and various tools and fonts.
Development
Development of Avro Keyboard was started in 2003 by Mehdi Hasan Khan, a student from Mymensingh Medical CollegeMymensingh Medical College
Mymensingh Medical College is a government medical college in Bangladesh. It is located in the Mymensingh District of the Dhaka Division. Mymensingh Medical Journal, which is Index Medicus/MEDLINE listed, is the official journal of Mymensingh Medical College.-History:During the later part of...
. It was first published on web for free download on 26 March 2003 under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Initially, it was developed in Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
, which was later transferred to Delphi
Object Pascal
Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...
. The Linux version of it was written in C++. Avro was further developed by M. M. Rifat-Un-Nabi, Tanbin Islam Siyam, Ryan Kamal, Shabab Mustafa and Nipon Haque from OmicronLab. The latest stable version of Avro Keyboard is 5.1.0 which was released on 1 January 2011. Avro phonetic for Linux is available with source code. After discussion, OmicronLab published the source code of windows version under MPL 1.1
Mozilla Public License
The Mozilla Public License is a free and open source software license. Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker when she worked as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation and version 1.1 at the Mozilla Foundation...
license with the Avro Keyboard 5.0.5 public beta 1.
Features
Avro Keyboard has customizable mode switching with automatic tracking and has a larger field of compatibility. Users can get all popular Bengali typing methods in a single software.Other features include:
- Both Unicode and ANSI support: Avro keyboard supports writing Bengali text in both Unicode and ANSI.
- English to Bengali phonetic typing: If 'ami banglay gan gai' is typed then 'আমি বাংলায় গান গাই' will be written.
- Traditional keyboard layout-based typing: Several keyboard layouts like Bornona, Avro easy, Jatiya, Probhat, Munir Optima can be used with Avro keyboard software.
- Mouse-based Bengali typing: Typing can be done by clicking the character symbols on the keyboard layout picture.
- Spell Check on the fly: For phonetic typing, Avro keyboard provides a list of correct word on the fly from dictionary based on the typing. Correct word can be chosen from the list.
- Spell checker program: Avro provided a spell checker as separate program. There is a spell checker plug-in for Microsoft WordMicrosoft WordMicrosoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
. - Input language/input locale support: If the Bengali language support is absent in the operating system even then Bengali script can be written by installing Avro.
- Customizable mode-switching (single key/key combination): Single key or multiple key combination can be used to switch between languages.
- Automatic keyboard mode and input language tracking: If Bengali and English are being typed in two different programs then Avro can detect the language and can continue typing in the correct language.
- Key layout viewer on the fly: A keyboard layout image can be seen on the screen for typing help.
- Customizing Keyboard layout: New Keyboard layout can be created or the character settlement of existing keyboard keys can be rearranged by using the Avro keyboard layout changer which can be distributed and adopted like plugins.
- Unicode and ANSI based fonts availability: Avro supports and provides Bengali Unicode and ANSI standard fonts.
- User editable dictionary support for phonetic typing: There is a Bengali dictionary in Avro keyboard for automatic correction. The editions of two auto correct dictionaries of different computers can be merged.
- Keyboard macro support: Multiple key can be combined to write custom word or sentence as a command.
- Unicode to Bijoy converter: There is a program called Unicode to Bijoy converter to convert Unicode Bengali text to ASCII (or Bijoy) standard.
- Avro Converter: Avro converter can convert ASCII/ANSI based Bangla documents written by Bijoy, Alpona, Proshika Shabda and Proborton formats to Unicode, without losing formatting. Avro Converter supports a variety of document types (*.txt, *.rft, *.doc, *.docx, *.mdb) conversion by OLE Automation method. With development focus solely on Avro Keyboard, OmicronLab has discontinued further development of Avro Converter.
- Support forum for products: There is an online forum from the OmicronLab accompanied with homepage to help the user of their products and discuss various issues. This forum is also used for feature suggestion and further development.
- AssameseAssamese languageAssamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
language can be typed by Avro.
Portable Edition of Avro Keyboard
A portable edition of the Avro keyboard has been released on 2 July 2007. It does not need any installation or access as administrator and suitable to carry in portable media (like USB drives). It has a built-in 'automatic virtual font installer'.The size of portable edition is lower than the standard edition. The portable edition is also free for any personal or commercial use.Awards and recognition
- Certified as a 100% clean from spyware/adware/virus on softpedia.
- Has been added to the online solution directory of Microsoft for Indic language input.
- Avro Keyboard has been listed as useful Bengali computing resource by the Unicode consortium.
- Bangladesh Election Commission used Avro for internal use and found it satisfactory.
- Recommended to Bengali Wikipedia users.
- Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services has given the 'Special Contribution to IT Award 2011' to Avro team for Avro Keyboard Software on 4 February 2011.
Beginning
On 4 April 2010, Mustafa Jabbar, the proprietor of commercial and closed source Bijoy software and CEO of 'Ananda Computers' said in an article in daily JanakanthaJanakantha
Dainik Janakantha is a Bengali language daily newspaper published from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is owned by the Globe group . This newspaper was first published on 21 February 1993....
, hackers were responsible for spreading pirated copies of his Bijoy on the internet. He accused UNDP to help these hackers. He further claimed that UNDP had remarkable influence for selecting Avro for national ID database project by Bangladesh Election Commission
Bangladesh Election Commission
The Bangladesh Election Commission is an independent constitutional body of the nation of Bangladesh that operates the legal functions of Election law in that South Asian county....
. On the other hand, Avro developers denied all allegation against them. In addition, they charged Jabbar for continuous harassment in different stages and media by calling them thief and for that their petition was ignored there. They said that the developers behind Bengali computing happened to work under threat of legal persecution and law enforcing agencies. They indicated that Jabbar complained against Avro after losing around 5 crore taka business in Bangladesh Election commission that used free Avro software instead of commercial Bijoy in the nation ID database project.
Reaction
Anger and protest have become apparent in Bangla blogosphere and Bangladeshi Facebook users for this accusation that Avro is a pirated version of ‘Bijoy‘ and that the Avro team have been called hackers.The Avro team was praised for saving around 5 crore taka of Bangladesh Election commission.
Legal proceeding
There is a keyboard layout, named UniBijoy, which was supplied with Avro Keyboard 4.5.1. Jabbar filed an application of copyright violation to the office of copyright, Bangladesh on 25 April 2010, claiming that UniBijoy is a copy of Bijoy.Settlement
A settlement was made between khan and Jabbar in a formal meeting on 16 June 2010 in Bangladesh Computer CouncilBangladesh Computer Council
Bangladesh Computer Council is the regulatory body of computer and information technology related activities in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology of Bangladesh...
office in Agargaon
Agargaon
-Education:Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government Boys' High School is a public secondary school, established in 1969. In addition to its high school curriculum, the school started college level education in 2008.- Significant facilities :* BCFCC...
, Dhaka at presence of many IT experts. According to that, Khan removes the UniBijoy keyboard layout from Avro keyboard software and Jabbar withdraws the allegation of copyright violation from Bangladesh copyright office by 20 August 2010. As a result, UniBijoy keyboard layout was removed from the Avro Keyboard version 4.5.2 which was released on 20 August 2010. Jabbar informed that the trial in copy right office is withheld and will be withdrawn. He congratulated Khan and said, I am respectful to his creativity and expecting the development of Avro software.