A fringe buyer

I currently live in France. We have excellent olives in the shops, and I would guess that the first Beaujolais nouveau comes here much earlier than it does to Muskegon. However, there are other products that come later here than they do in for example the US - like new high-tech products.

Recently a new version of Microsoft Office 2008 made it to the shops in the US and the rest of the world, including France. The version you buy in the US is in English. The version you buy in France is in French. That is fine and excellent for the vast majority of the customers.

But we are some people who prefer all our software to be in one and the same language. As most software is available in English, that is the language of choice for us. Working in the same language in all programs makes it slightly quicker to browse through the menus. Even if you know that Copy and Paste are Copier and Coller, it is quicker to always browse for Copy, than to sometimes browse for Copy and sometimes for Copier.

Besides there is one feature, support for Japanese vertical script and furigana, which is not included in the French version. It is included in the Japanese version, of course. And the English version. But not in the French one.

So the task is to get Microsoft Office 2008 in English, even though I live in France.

That is hard. The knights of the round table had it easier when they were stumbling around looking for the holy grail.

None of the shops here has the English version. Applestore.fr does not have the English version. Applestore.com does not ship the English version abroad. It is like a giant conspiracy to block anyone in France from using an English version of Office 2008. I wonder if they have road blocks on the borders and and strip searches making sure no one brings in an English copy.

My latest attempt was to go to amazon.co.jp and try to order a Japanese copy shipped to France. However, they also had restrictions. Apparently, software produced for the Japanese market cannot be shipped abroad. No MS Office. No Egword. Probably not the Japanese version of InDesign.

People talk about the dangers of globalisation. Is this what they mean?

Anyhow, most people are probably happy with the versions available. Most French prefer the French version to the English one. Most French do not speak Japanese. Everyone is happy. Except the consumers on the fringe.