Sat, 26 Jul 2008
Dzongkha Linux
There's a Bhutanese version of Linux available, Dzongkha Linux. If you head over there, you're greeted by a picture of Tux in a maroon monk's robe. Dzongkha is the Bhutanese name for their language. It looks like the Dzongkha word for Linux in Li.nag.so. At least, that's what's written above Tux's head. Dzongkha uses the Tibetan script. (Otherwise I would not be able to read it.) The word Dzong.kha means fortress in Tibetan. There's more about the language in the Wikipedia article. The article also mentions the controversy about the Dzongkha version of Windows:
In October 2005, an internal Microsoft proposal blocked the term "Dzongkha" from all company software and promotional material, substituting the term "Tibetan - Bhutan" instead. This was done at the request of the mainland Chinese government, who insisted the name "Dzongkha" implied an affiliation with the Dalai Lama, and hence, with Tibetan independentism.
I think the controversy stemmed from a confusion between the word Dzongkha and the name Tsong.Kha.pa, who was the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism that the Dalai Lama belongs to.
