In the current scenario of the global marketplace, it is very important to make software products which are sensitive to the different location and cultural expectations of users around the world. Most non-English-speaking customers have operating system in their native language and they expect that computer programs will not fail on their computers, also they want that the software is available in their native language as well. The software companies which ensure that their software products are easily acceptable in different regions and cultures will definitely gain more market share than the company’s which do not focus on globalization.
Globalization is the term used to describe the process of producing software that can be run independent of its geographical and cultural environment. Localization is the term used to describe the process of customizing the globalized software for a specific environment. For simplicity, the term “globalization” will be used to describe both concepts, for in the broadest sense of the term, software is not truly globalized unless it is localized as well.
There are lot aspects that must be considered when producing globalized software. Some of the aspects are as follows:
Sensitivity to the English vocabulary
Date and time formatting
Currency handling
Paper sizes for printing
Address and telephone number formatting
