Dedicated to ANAKRU (Dr. A. N. Krishna Rao)
Baraha (ಬರಹ / बरह / பரஹ / బరహ / ബരഹ / બરહ / ਬਰਹ / বরহ / ବରହ) means "writing" in
Kannada language. The first release of Baraha was made on January 1998. This initial
release was developed with an intention to provide a free, easy to use Kannada
language software to enable even non-computer professionals to use Kannada in
computers thereby promoting Kannada language in the cyber world. Today millions
of people across the world are using Baraha for creating content in Indian languages.
The biggest challenge for use of Indian languages is the keyboard. At present,
usage of English language & English keyboard(QWERTY) in computers is
inevitable. One has to use the English keyboard only to type Indian language
text. There are many different keyboard layouts for typing Indian languages.
Many such layouts are based on the earlier typewriter designs, which are not at
all relevant for the intelligent computers. It is also very difficult and
confusing for a common user, who spends most of the time using the English keyboard,
to switch to one such keyboard for quickly typing an email in say Kannada or Hindi.
Baraha breaks the keyboard barrier for Indian languages by using a
phonetic keyboard in which any Indian language word may be typed using the
standard English keyboard. Baraha user doesn't feel any discomfort when he
switches between typing Indian language text and English. In fact, writing in
Baraha is as simple and easy as writing our names in English! Kannada and Hindi
text such as cheluva kannaDa nADu, merA bhArat mahAn
can be typed as shown.
Many Indian language software were created based on True Type fonts (ANSI
encoding) many years before Windows/Linux introduced them using Open Type
fonts (Unicode encoding). Even today, majority of the Indian language content
is being created using TrueType fonts and almost all Indian publications use
ANSI based TrueType fonts for printing and online publications. Baraha breaks
the barrier between ANSI and Unicode. Using Baraha, one can effortlessly
convert text between ANSI and Unicode. For example, when a user on Windows 98 -
which doesn't support Unicode, receives a Hindi email in Unicode, he can
convert it to ANSI and read it.
Baraha breaks the script barrier between different Indian languages. All the
Indian scripts are derived from the Brahmi script, which is also the underlying
concept in Baraha. Baraha uses a common code to represent all the Indian
languages. So, it is possible to convert text from one script to another. For
example, let's say a Malayalam user who understands Hindi language receives a
Hindi email. If the user is not fluent in reading Devanagari script, then he
can convert the email to Malayalam script itself and read it.
One of the main objectives of Baraha is "portability of data". Baraha
can export the data in various file formats such as ANSI text, Unicode text,
RTF, HTML. User can convert documents to Unicode by a few clicks of
mouse, which means the documents that are created in Baraha, stay relevant in
the future and will never become obsolete.
"Language is not just a means of communication. Instead, it is the only means
that can save the culture of its people. (ANAKRU)" Baraha was made a
freeware in order to motivate Indians to communicate in their languages on
computers. We believe that only an easy to use, free Indian language software
can jump-start the extensive usage of Indian language on computers, which today
is dominated by English.
Baraha was a freeware from 1998 to 2010 for personal and commercial use,
during which period, we added many languages and features while constantly upgrading to support the newer operating systems.
Starting from version 10.0, Baraha has become a paid software with new features and Unicode fonts.