While it might seem like a bit of a hassle, adding support for the Arabic language on your Mac is a simple, straight-forward process. This is a quick guide to adding the Arabic keyboard to Mac OS X, as well as the softwre to use in order to open and edit office documents in Arabic.

Add the Arabic Language and Keyboard

The first step is to add a foreign keyboard, and that can be easily achieved via the System Preferences:

1. Click on the Apple logo on the top-right corner, and open System Preferences
2. Under the Personal group, select International
3. Go to Input Menu, check Keyboard viewer, scroll through the languages, and select Arabic
   
   

   The international input menu

4. Check Show input menu in menu bar for quick and easy access

Languages' menu

You will notice that your Mac OS X’s native language flag has appeared on the bar across the top (for example, USA flag for US English). In order to start typing in Arabic, simply click on that flag, and select Arabic from the menu that appears. If your keyboard does not have the Arabic alphabet printed on, you can select “Show keyboard” from the flag menu for access to a visual keyboard then you can use your mouse clicks to type. Of course, it is an inconvenience, and you are much better off either getting the letters printed on, attach transparent stickers with the Arabic letters on the keyboard buttons, or purchasing and attaching an external USB keyboard.

Opening and Editing Arabic Office Documents

Many Mac users choose to install Microsoft Office for Mac (the latest of which is the 2008 edition) to use programs such as Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Aside from the fact that it is yet another Microsoft product with stability issues and unexpected flaws, the software bundle has an attractive and intuitive interface, and helps make you productive and efficient. The only major disadvantage, however, is the lack of support for Arabic. This means that you cannot even open a .doc file, for example, that is written in Arabic.

download OpenOffice.org

There are two main office bundles that can tackle this problem: Apple iWork (with Arabic support), and OpenOffice.org. The former could be quite pricey and does not necessarily offer the smoothest transition from its Microsoft counterpart. The latter, on the other hand, is free and open source. Even if OpenOffice.org cannot be considered a direct replacement, it remains a convenient solution as it sits comfortably side-by-side with Microsoft Office without consuming much space or resources in general.

Thus, this is how you can install and configure OpenOffice.org to work as a supplement:

1. Go to http://www.openoffice.org/ and download the installation file
2. Install OOo on your local machines and move it to your Applications folder
3. Open OOo and go to the Preferences menu
4. Under Language Settings, select Languages, check Enabled for complex text layout (CTL)
5. Select Arabic (Egypt) from the CTL drop-down list
   
   

   OpenOffice.org Language Settings

This will result in the ability to type, create/edit office documents, and open files, all in Arabic. The same could be applied to any language, but Arabic in particular tends to scare people off with its apparent complexity, but as you’ve seen, it’s as easy as basic configuration, and a beautiful product from the open source community.

With the spread of open source alternatives to commercial applications, more and more users are going directly for free software, and might not even see the need to get a hold of bootleg copies of “professional” programs. Applications such as VLC, Filezilla or Firefox are obvious choices, and, coincidently, are completely free and open source. In fact, there are so many, that there are websites, such as OSLAT, that are exclusively dedicated to finding open source alternatives to commercial software.

When you assess the use of an average user, the common applications would be a web browser, media player, and office applications. And while the former two are well-secured in the open source domain, the latter leaves plenty of room for argument.

OpenOffice.org Writer

OpenOffice.org released version 3.0 in October of last year, and have recently come up with a refined 3.1 that is available for download. The bundle includes five applications:

• Writer: Word processor
• Calc: Spreedsheets
• Impress: Presentations
• Draw: Drawing and illustration
  
• Base: Databases

In theory, this seems like solid gold as it offers all of the functionality that is needed, while being completely free and open source. However, the reality is somewhat different. When analyzing the office applications, we would have to compare them to Microsoft Office 2007 on PC, or the 2008 version on Mac. Even though they’re commercial, the huge majority are either willing to pay a relatively small fee to be legitimate owners, or have no problem obtaining illegal copies. Therefore, the main advantage has somewhat diminished, and we are left with some weaknesses:

• Interface: Even if you use your office applications strictly for work, an attractive sleek interface is something you cannot live without. Unfortunately, not too much effort has been invested in the aesthetics of OpenOffice.org
• Usability: When it takes more than 30 seconds to find basic functions, even the stubbornest of open source addicts will become frustrated. OpenOffice.org is simply not intuitive enough, and it feels rigid and at times complex
• Formats: OpenOffice.org supports all of the formats that you can think of, but the average users click on “save” without a moment’s thought. And since the default format is .odt (or depending on the application), you are immediately amidst compatibility issues
• Functionality: There are a number of features that are exclusive to OpenOffice.org, but for the most part, it falls short of the endless features offered by commercial counterparts (such as Microsoft Office). For example, playing with themes and choosing custom colors is beyond OpenOffice.org’s services

Overall, OpenOffice.org 3.1 is comparable to the earlier versions of MS Office (2003 PC, 2004 Mac). For more users to come on board, there has to be a huge leap forward, such as that seen in other open source applications. Otherwise users will always be left with this feeling of unnecessary sacrifice when they venture with the free office applications. Nevertheless, there is reason for optimism, as the project can only improve and become more competent.

It seems that going open source with such fundamental tools, such as office applications, could just be the final step before embarking the big stage: the Operating System.