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Silence is golden

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memoQ - 09/11/2012

3 minute read

I have the tendency to feel that I'm in the mood for writing when I listen to music, but I never expected I would actually listen to memoQ to draw some inspiration. 
And it just happened... I forgot to switch it off and alas, here I am writing a blog entry. If you don't understand what I am talking about, just wait a week more. There was a reason why we did not really post anything in the last couple of months, and that is change.

 

In the last couple of months a lot of things have changed in the company. We introduced a brand new knowledge base (are you using  http://kb.kilgray.com? it is really useful and also relates to compatibility information that the Help does not cover), we are introducing the new support system that we tested about a month ago, but what I am most proud of is actually the release of memoQ 6.2 that will come according to plan, and the new cloud-based system that will offer functionality that you can never have in a desktop tool.

 

As you may remember, our approach to cloud computing wasn't particularly friendly. Looking at the early cloud tools I have a feeling that life's a misery to translators who have to work in those. At memoQfest 2010 Peter even came up with the concept of 'clear sky computing' which emphasises the importance of transparency. What's more, most of the big cloud vendors use American hosting providers which means that the American government can at any time poke their nose into your confidential documentation. I truly understand why I heard a cloud translation technology provider saying that they could never crack Germany...

 

That said, I can actually understand companies who just don't want to care about their technology. Most providers use the cloud for software delivery, and thus decrease the initial costs (well, usually only that, and the TCO over a few years' time is higher) and facilitate the deployment of technology. However, if you allow me to be so arrogant, the challenge of the cloud is not this. The challenge is how you can add real value that you cannot add without getting cloudy.

 

We analysed what our users want to do and what we cannot offer because of the limitation of desktop tools, and we listed a number of functionalities. So our cloud solution was brought to life... not to replace what we are offering on the desktop or on installed servers, but to complement it. We will start with three very specific functionalities (other than creating a login and managing your storage space, that is):
 
  • InDesign de luxe. Yes, you heard that right, totally sophisticated InDesign handling, not just your traditional be-blind-and-use-IDML/INX. You are able to upload an InDesign file (INDD, INX, IDML), and get a memoQ XLIFF plus also a PDF that shows your InDesign document in context. What's more, your memoQ XLIFF contains a real-time preview for InDesign that changes just like your DOC/XLS/PPT/HTML/XML preview. And when you are done, you can also preview your translation in PDF and get the INDD or IDML back.
  • Project backup and restore. It is quite typical for translators to work on one computer then continue work on the other computer, and the only possibility today is to create a project backup and send it via email or some other way. memoQ will be integrated with our portal and you can save your backup directly there.
  • Resource marketplace. Have you got a good file filter, auto-translation rule set, or any other light resource to share with others? If you want to do good to the community, you can share your light resources there, and others can benefit from them. While I called it a marketplace, it isn't - you can only share it for fame, not for money.

I'm sure you'll agree that such functionality would never be possible without a cloud solution, and that Kilgray took the right direction going beyond the boundaries of any desktop tool. We now have three main products to manage, memoQ (which includes memoQ, memoQ server, and the content connectors), memoQweb (our browser-based systems -- from a licensing point of view, two products, qTerm and webTrans, from a development point of view we develop them together) and our cloud platform. While memoQ is already very mature and memoQweb is also state-of-the-art, cloud is our new offering, and we welcome ideas. What's more, we plan to open some services up also to users of other translation tools, so if you are a programmer interested in adding value to other translation tools, just send a mail. And stay tuned for the release.
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memoQ is among the world's leading translation management systems. The favorite productivity tool for translation professionals around the globe.

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