Avro and other phonetic typing software enabled us to forget about memorizing the so called “Bijoy Keyboard”, where h means ba and l means da. Any way, I don’t like their keyboard for one reason: you have to keep pressing the shift key to switch between letters. To me, phonetic typing means I’ll type the pronunciation in English, and computer will understand what I mean. That is when Google Transliteration came. First it started as a browser based text only editor. Then it brought rich text editor support and bookmarklets to support any web based text editor. But it still isn’t enough. I do a lot of typing using windows live writer and Microsoft Word. So I was still somewhat dependent on Ekushey and Avro. Now google has decided to end that misery. Google has launched it’s own version of Ekushey, the Google Indic IME. Imagine what google has to offer:

• Offline Support - No dependency on internet connection.


• Word Completions - Dictionary based word completions for prefixes.


• Personalized Choices - Remember user corrections for personalized service.


• Easy Keyboard - Dictionary enabled keyboard to enter rare and complex words.


• Cool Customization - Customize suggestions page size, display font and more.

Beware, however that Google will be able to access every word you type, so careful what you are typing. Download it from : http://www.google.com/ime/transliteration/index.html Some people may have some difficulty with google update behind a firewall. (Especially my BUET colleagues). For them, here is a direct link to the installer. http://sites.google.com/site/sajiduc/my-files/googlebengaliinputsetup.zip