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Japanese Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Vista

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We’ve just released Japanese Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Vista, the first localized Windows SDK! It was a very different experience for our team with all new challenges and the opportunity to work with some great folks on the Localization Team like Sandra Aldana, International Program Manager, and Paul Johnson, International Project Engineer.

Localization is the process of adapting products and services to the needs of global users. Localization enables non-English-speaking users around the world to benefit from technology and use it to achieve their best. Language translation is only a small part of the localization process. Localization also includes modifying products to take into account cultural and political sensitivities; colors and sounds; date, time, or currency formats; plus other social factors that will help users interact more effectively with the product.

International Program Managers like Sandra Aldana manage localization projects, determine what gets localized, set the localization schedule, and works with regional offices and vendors. They also become an expert in the technology they’re working with. International Project Engineers like Paul Johnson work across the other engineering and marketing disciplines, orchestrating the successful delivery of international products and services while advocating for a truly globalized source product.

It was a new and wonderful experience to have the International Project Engineering team closely involved in product planning and design. We all learned a lot about translation – the obvious part, but were also involved in the re-engineering of parts of the SDK to support Japanese and other languages, allow our components and setup to function correctly in given locales, and appeal to local markets.

Localization seems incredibly complex but from what I’ve seen it would be awesome to work in an area that has a positive impact on users all around the world. If you’re interested in working in this field, read the profiles of Localization PMs Rachana or Jack or search the Microsoft job pages for a career in Localization. This area is growing FAST. I’m excited to see the SDK localized into more languages.

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