I tweeted the following question: https://twitter.com/budhajeewa/status/347238739954778112

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108761828584265913206/posts

why are you glad? where is the evidence that those “standards” are optimal or even desirable?

the keyboard layout created under the name Tamil99 is aptly named, because it is only good enough for the 20th century, the infancy of Tamil language in information technology. it is NOT a good keyboard for the 21st century.

i once had a conversation with Dr. M. Anandakrishnan who chaired the committee in charge of creating the Tamil99 keyboard, and it was clear from his recollection of the events that the committee’s objective was simply to reach agreement on *any* keyboard, not necessarily a good keyboard. he was working with others in that committee, several of whom had no expertise in even basic computing, with very basic concepts of placing மெய்யெழுத்து on one side of the keyboard, உயிரெழுத்து on the other side, and grouping of இன எழுத்துகள்.

but there was no scientific basis for the individual Tamil99 letter placements. this is clearly indicated by the location of the க letter — the most frequently used consonant in the modern language — in the place of the English Qwerty keyboard’s ‘h’ key — a weak key position. i submitted an abstract to the TI2004 conference detailing some of these shortcomings, and the results were based on data of letter frequencies.

now we are seeing with the screenshot of this new iOS7 keyboard that Apple has modified some key placements, including the ஆய்த எழுத்து. why has Apple moved it to a peripheral location next to the spacebar, especially when we know this key will be used very frequently?

a native keyboard that allows us to type directly in the language is certainly an important goal. we should create this keyboard in a way that is data-driven, transparent, mobilizes the best minds, insulated from political influence, and avoids conflicts of interest.

as the events of the last 15 years have clearly shown, the “government of Tamil Nadu” is totally unconcerned about the survival of our language or even the people who speak the language, unless it serves some narrow political purpose of ruling politicians.

many diaspora thamils who can touch type in English are avid users of a Romanised transliteration keyboard (first introduced in Murasu Anjal). we would also welcome the introduction of this keyboard as a native keyboard in iOS, just as it is available with Tamil99 as a default keyboard in the last several releases of OS X.

Who do you think would be in power to get in touch with the keyboard creators, would be great to have anjal support as well!