By Graham K. Rogers

The most recent update to OS X, 10.7.3, has brought a welcome change to the language localisation for users in Thailand, and for the first time in OS X, Thai characters can be used not just as fonts, but for the full menu system. I installed the update a short while ago

Installing the Update

In the Admin account, I moved the DMG file to the desktop and ran Repair Permissions in Disk Utility. Some debate the necessity of doing this. I run this less these days, but an update to the operating system seems like a good time. I had checked the disk a few days ago, using Disk Warrior, so (fingers crossed) all should have been well.

There were the usual license agreement panels and then information that the (combo) update would take some 2.4GB of space. I was also asked for the Admin password. I pressed restart and the installation, up to the time that I was asked to press Restart again to complete the task, was some 26 minutes. As usual, "About a minute" was extended considerably.

Updated OS X

I opened Language & Text preferences. In the Language panel Thai was shown near the bottom. I dragged this right to the top of the list and restarted. Immediately a panel, in Thai, appeared. From memory (I can only read a little) this was a sort of "Are you sure" confirmation: sure.

On the restart, for the first time in OS X, were the menus in Thai. This has been a long time coming due to the difficulties of porting the language to OS X, although Thai fonts have been accessible for years, and it is possible to use Thai menus on the iPhone: evidence perhaps of the two operating systems (OS X and iOS) coming inevitably closer.

The change to the language only affects the account in which the selection is made. In my user account, therefore, I was able to use English while Thai was running in the Admin account. This is useful for families in which there are more than one nationality: say a Thai husband and American wife.

Most of the menus are now completely Thai, with just some minor exceptions like certain applications (Finder, iPhoto, iMovie), while Preview used Thai characters for the application name.

One or two changes had been made in the order for items in Finder panels, so Dropbox was not initially in the position I expected it (I found it by a process of elimination). Different languages sort differently. I also noticed that the three screen-shots I had taken and put in the Dropbox had Thai file-names that included a Thai (B.E.) year (2555-02-02).

With a quick look around the installation, I also found that Safari has been updated to version 5.1.3 which was not unexpected with the changes listed to the way changes to the application's operations were described in Software Update.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.