Google’s Khmer language search engine found at google.com.kh has been in existence for over a year now, but after reading comments on khmeros.info (keepers of the Khmer Unicode project) and other sites, it seems as if it was plagued with typos and misuse of the Khmer language.

Anyway it looks like the contributors here in Cambodia have finally got everything to an acceptable level as today anyone who goes to google.com using a Cambodian IP will be redirected to google.com.kh. Google is a popular site here in Cambodia and hopefully people who are currently using the true type Khmer fonts such as Limon and ABC will consider making the switch to Khmer Unicode in order to be able to search Khmer language content on the web.

If you can’t read the text on the right side of the title of this post then you don’t have Khmer Unicode installed on your machine, even if you can’t fluently read Khmer, I still think we should have it installed regardless and spread the word wherever possible. If you are a business owner or manager, you should also encourage your staff to use it in place of the old true type fonts, basically tell anyone who is willing to listen. The old excuses for not having Unicode were as followed:

• “It’s too difficult to install”. Not anymore, there is now an auto-installer which can be downloaded here.
• “It takes up too much space”. There was a bug in a previous release which meant that the Windows Add and Remove Software utility would show Khmer Unicode using 4GB’s of disk space, when in reality it was using less than 1MB. This bug has now been resolved in the current release.

Reasons why you should use Khmer Unicode installed are as follows:

• It will encourage developers to build Khmer Unicode websites instead of using Limon as an embedded font. Embedded Khmer fonts due to their character placement can’t be accurately searched by databases, which seriously restricts dynamic websites.
• You can write send emails in Khmer using this program. The program is open source, so you can download it legally for free.
• You can use Open Office, which has all of the same features as Microsoft office, but with native support for Khmer Unicode. This program is also Open Source so can be downloaded for free. The utility is also fantastic in English and is an excellent alternative for organisations or individuals who can’t afford Microsoft Office licensing fees. It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac and can be downloaded here.
• If Khmer Unicode is widely adopted in Cambodia and becomes the de-facto font for Khmer computer users, it will encourage software developers to build new Khmer language based software. At present with a minority of Cambodians being computer literate and of that minority for the most part using true type fonts, it makes development of Khmer language software commercially unviable for the private sector and an unattractive prospect to the Open Source community.
• And last of all, users who are proficient in Khmer Unicode can touch type at speeds simply not possible using Khmer true type fonts, with its constant use of CTRL, ALT and Shift.

So the bottom line is that all of us should have Khmer Unicode installed and should be promoting it wherever possible. The lack of Khmer language software in my honest opinion is the single biggest reason for the digital divide we see in Cambodia today, this is not going to change until the use of Khmer Unicode is the rule rather than the exception.