"The new office system has evolved to meet the need of today's information workers and their organisations, with advanced tools and technologies that help them succeed," chairman Bill Gates said in a statement.

Microsoft said that it has incorporated enhanced Arabic features, applications and development tools into the product.

Although the system was developed in Redmond, Washington, local expertise in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was called on to develop the Arabic applications.

English, Arabic and Japanese are the three pilot languages for Microsoft, meaning that product development starts at the same time in the three languages.

There are 300 million licnesed Microsoft office users worldwide, the company says.

The launch took place on the sidelines of the Middle East's largest IT fair GITEX and ahead of its US premiere due to the time zone differences. Dubai is four hours in front of GMT.

SPACE.WIRE