TRADOS is promoting version 7 of its translator desktop software, and it looks like the key improvement in this edition is full XML support, including the hot new DITA standard. These acronyms mean very little to marketing teams, but will mean a great deal to information architects and IT departments, the folks who are struggling to make content and translation management work smoothly (and cost-effectively) across enterprises.

Support for open standards is all the rage in the content management industry and this is driving force in the translation software space as well. This is great news for both companies and their vendors, because XML-based systems, software, and workflow is now (finally) starting to pay off.

Here are the new or improved features listed on the TRADOS press release:

• Complete XML Open Standards Support - Increased compatibility, no matter what the format, including XLIFF, DITA, conditional XML and other common XML flavors
• Enhanced TMX Compliance - Translator’s Workbench fully supports the latest open TMX standard, TMX 1.4b, as well as related standards such as Segmentation Rules Exchange (SRX).
• Full Support for Hindi and Twenty Other New Languages - Complete Unicode Language Support - Localization into the languages spoken in emerging markets such as India are becoming more and more vital for enterprises going truly global, and TRADOS fully supports this trend.
• Improved Ease of Use - Including improvements to user experience for frequent activities such as AutoText to store frequently used expressions, Change Case for rapid capitalization of text and better performance for large documents Complete XML Open Standards Support - Increased compatibility, no matter what the format, including XLIFF, DITA, conditional XML and other common XML flavors