What Lies Ahead
So, what is so different now in localization compared to what we got used to
during the 1990s?
Not as much as you might expect. After all, many localization projects
fit the profile that we have grown accustomed to over the past years:
Windows-based desktop software products with some translatable resource
files, basic engineering and compilation requirements, HTML files to use for
the online help and possibly some product collateral or manuals to be printed
or published in PDF format.
Even though these typical software localization projects may still be the
bulk of the work for many localization service providers, they are quickly
being supplanted by new types of localization projects where the focus is on
In other words, the turn of the century also introduced a new view
towards localization and translation.