The latest version of Windows comes with a little something that will have many Hawaiian speakers saying mahalo nui loa. Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 8, now supports the Hawaiian language.  It includes a Hawaiian keyboard layout, fonts with diacritical marks, and the ability to show days of the week and months in Hawaiian.

Keola Donaghy collaborated with Microsoft programmers for several years while he was at UH Hilo’s College of Hawaiian Language.  Donaghy hopes these tools can help strengthen Hawaiian speaker’s abilities to use technology.  

Donaghy previously worked with Apple in 2002 to include the Hawaiian language for Macintosh.

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(Molly Solomon / HPR News)