by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2012/09/19 07:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2012/09/19/10350673.aspx
Sometimes we do stuff that's pretty cool and that people like.
And then without ever explaining why, it goes away.
Like the Microsoft Application Translator (from the old GlobalDev), which you pretty much have to look to the Internet Archive to read about!).
Interesting idea.
But understaffed, without funding and sans exec support, it died before it ever got to be cool. Just a few years after it first started.
It never made it past the closed beta.
And the name of MAT was dishonored.
Who would bring it back it's honor?
I guess I gave it away in the title, huh? :-)
Well, remember when I wrote Got Windows 8? Check out the Multilingual App Toolkit about a cool tool in beta?
Well, it has been just over six months, and now
Multilingual App Toolkit for Visual Studio 2012 has now been officially released!
You can get it right here from the Dev Center. :-)
From that page:
Multilingual App Toolkit for Visual Studio 2012 is an extension that enables translation support through tools and guides by focusing on the following areas:
Integration with Visual Studio IDE enables you to add and manage translation files to a project solution using standard Visual Studio menus and dialogs.
Pseudo language engine gives you ‘in house’ testing of localized apps by identifying translation issues during development such as hardcoded, concatenated, or truncated strings and other visual issues that arise when working with languages. Pseudo translations are stored in the localization industry standard XLIFF file format and can be edited just like any other language translation. This gives you granular control over pseudo translation testing.
Translation file export & import roundtrip provides you with the ability to send and receive resources in XLIFF files to friends, family, or a translator services for review.
XLIFF lightweight editor provides a lightweight localization UI for editing translated strings. Get translation suggestions quickly by using the integrated Microsoft Translator (requires active Internet connection). It also allows you to quickly edit data stored in XLIFF files by adjusting pseudo and/or actual translations.
*Required only for add-in functionality. The Multilingual App Toolkit also has a standalone editor.
There are already several videos up showing what it can do for you, like
And what's more: they've got staffing.
And funding.
And resources.
And a plan.
And the approval (and dare I say delight?) from our senior leadership.
And they're just getting started!
I think it's fair to say that the honor of MAT has been restored....
ChristianKaiser on 20 Sep 2012 11:15 PM:
Hi Michael,
is there any reason for "Supported Operating Systems: Windows 8 32-bit or 64-bit editions" besides that MS hopes to push sales of Windows 8? I mean, which developer will right now switch to Windows 8 on his development machine?
Christian
Sara Thomas on 21 Sep 2012 9:43 AM:
@ChristianKaiser - You need to install Windows 8 in order to develop Windows 8 apps. This requirement isn't unique to using the Multilingual App Toolkit. More info: msdn.microsoft.com/.../hh974577
Cameron Lerum on 9 Nov 2012 8:10 AM:
Just a quick note to let folks know that the Multilingual App Toolkit v1.1 has been released. This release improves performance, helps identify discovered resource issues, and provides some nice fit & finish work that did not make it into the v1.0 release. If you like v1.1, you'll love v1.1 :-)