JEDDAH, 17 April — Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed inaugurated the new Arabic website for Microsoft Arabia at COMDEX Saudi Arabia 2001 on Sunday night. Microsoft Arabia has developed the site, www.microsoft.com/saudi, to show their commitment to the Saudi market.

According to Suliman Al-Zahrani, product manager, MS Arabia, the purpose of the site is to provide a better means of communication with customers and partners. The site will keep them updated with the latest information on everything from upcoming Microsoft seminars to the newest product releases. Basically all information that can be found on the US-based website has been Arabized for the local market.

“What we have produced is just a start and we will be adding information to the site continuously,” explained Taher Al-Dabbagh, marketing manager, MS Arabia. “It is important to communicate about information technology in Arabic. There was a time in history when the Arab world was the center of new developments in science and mathematics. People would learn Arabic just to understand these new ideas.”

“We should not shy away from using Arabic in information technology. Doing so will encourage IT professionals to develop Arabic software and spread innovations in this field throughout the Arab world,” Al-Dabbagh said.