A new report in a local technology website reports that Microsoft's Cortana digital personal assistant supports Persian-language translations.
The desktop version of the live personal assistant got its multilingual upgrade by way of a blog post on Microsoft's MSDN blog, a post board related to the release and update of digital software, according to TechRasa.
The new language option, available to people who update to Windows 10 operating system, comes as part of a wider upgrade in accessibility for the new operating system.
The software also has the option to translate from Urdu, Hindi, Malay and Portuguese. It also lists science-fiction's favorite made-up language Klingon or plqaD.
The addition of Persian and a few other languages comes after an online petition by Iranian Windows computer users who voted for the language support. Microsoft promptly took notice and responded by adding "Farsi" (Persian) to their list.
A quote from the company says, “Cortana, with the help of Microsoft Translator, places powerful translation technology at your fingertips by instantly translating words, phrases and sentences from English or Chinese (depending on your edition) to almost 40 languages.
This latest petition followed previous attempts by Iranian computer users to gain access to the online Windows Store, which continues to block access from Iranian I.P. addresses due to US-led sanctions on the country. Financial Tribune tried our in-house Windows phone running Windows 8.1 to see if it was also eligible for the upgrade. However, multiple tests on the phone suggest the upgrade is primarily aimed at desktop Cortana users on Windows 10.
Support for Persian-language options from American technology companies has always been led by grassroots efforts inside Iran.
As American companies like Microsoft and Apple have never had access to Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the US embargo on the country ever since, these companies will have to play catch up with their Persian-language offerings in the event of full sanctions removal.
