Computer terms in Indonesian

Your article of July 21, 2001, titled "PC software in Indonesian to be launched", really amused me, especially the terms that are supposed to be used in the software such as tetikus for computer mouse, sandi lewat for password, and most of all unduh for download.

I can't help imagining a person with a high degree of interest in the computer world rummaging through a web site (in English) desperately looking for the word tekan tetikus untuk mengunduh (click mouse to download) just because he is accustomed to using software in Indonesian. We must not close our eyes to the fact that IT development didn't start here, but mostly in English- speaking countries or, if not, countries that have the same language root as English. Installed software in Indonesian will not solve the problem as almost all web sites and operating systems use English

I think that the software developers have to carefully assess the long term effect and also the global effect of the application of such software in Indonesia.

I am just curious: will Random Access Memory be translated as Ingatan Berjalanmasuk Acak? Or perhaps Motherboard will be translated as Papan Induk? And what about Joystick?

FAJAR PERDANA

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