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==History==
==History==
In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia identified the need for an online English–Hebrew dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process. The company was founded in 1997 and filed a patent that same year.<ref name="EKsIAAAAEBAJ">[http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=EKsIAAAAEBAJ Recognition and translation system - Google Patents<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>Babylon Ltd. is a publicly traded company. Its [[IPO]] took place on February 2007: Israeli businessman [[Noam Lanir]] purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder [[Reed Elsevier]]<ref>[http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3480305,00.htm Noam Lanir buys into Babylon], YNet</ref> and the company founder Amnon Ovadia. According to [[Globes]] magazine in January 2011, Lanir received an offer for his stake from a foreign private equity fund that valued the company at [[NIS]] 248 million (approximately 70 million dollars).<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-19/babylon-shareholder-gets-offer-for-majority-stake-globes-says.html Babylon Shareholder gets offer for majority stake, Globes says]</ref>
In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia identified the need for an online English–Hebrew dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process. The company was founded in 1997 and filed a patent that same year.<ref name="EKsIAAAAEBAJ">[http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=EKsIAAAAEBAJ Recognition and translation system - Google Patents<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The year after its launch date in 1998, the company had 2 million users, mostly in Germany and Brazil,<ref>[http://www.salon.com/tech/log/1999/11/02/babylon/index.html Salon Technology | Babble on<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> growing from 420,000 to 2.5 million users in the course of that year. By 2000, the company had over 4 million users. <ref> http://www.formulavision.com/News-innews/INNEWS-19052002BABYLON.htm?gotobtn=7</ref>
Babylon Ltd. is a publicly traded company. Its [[IPO]] took place on February 2007: Israeli businessman [[Noam Lanir]] purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder [[Reed Elsevier]]<ref>[http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3480305,00.htm Noam Lanir buys into Babylon], YNet</ref> and the company founder Amnon Ovadia. According to [[Globes]] magazine in January 2011, Lanir received an offer for his stake from a foreign private equity fund that valued the company at [[NIS]] 248 million (approximately 70 million dollars).<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-19/babylon-shareholder-gets-offer-for-majority-stake-globes-says.html Babylon Shareholder gets offer for majority stake, Globes says]</ref>


Among Babylon's important clients is [[Novartis]], which has purchased 40,000 licenses for the software. <ref>[http://archive.globes.co.il/searchgl/Novartis%20buys%2010,000%20Babylon%20software%20licenses_h_hd_1L3avCZ8rN34mC30nEJOoDpKkQ7HjR000.html. Novartis buys 10,000 Babylon software licenses]</ref> In 2008-2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google. In 2010, Google Ireland signed an extended cooperation agreement with Babylon to provide it with online search and pay-per-click advertising services.<ref>[http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000610889&fid=1725 Babylon extends deal with Google], Globes, 26 December 2010</ref>
Among Babylon's important clients is [[Novartis]], which has purchased 40,000 licenses for the software. <ref>[http://archive.globes.co.il/searchgl/Novartis%20buys%2010,000%20Babylon%20software%20licenses_h_hd_1L3avCZ8rN34mC30nEJOoDpKkQ7HjR000.html. Novartis buys 10,000 Babylon software licenses]</ref> In 2008-2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google. In 2010, Google Ireland signed an extended cooperation agreement with Babylon to provide it with online search and pay-per-click advertising services.<ref>[http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000610889&fid=1725 Babylon extends deal with Google], Globes, 26 December 2010</ref>

Revision as of 14:27, 15 September 2011

Babylon
Developer(s)Babylon Ltd.
Stable release
Windows11.0.1.6 / 22 June 2021; 3 years ago (2021-06-22)
Android4.1.2 / 16 December 2016; 7 years ago (2016-12-16)[1]
iOS2.0.1 / 14 February 2013; 11 years ago (2013-02-14)[2]
Windows Phone1.0 / 18 January 2012; 12 years ago (2012-01-18)[3]
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
TypeDictionary, machine translator and spell checker
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitewww.babylon.com

Babylon is a computer dictionary and translation program developed by Babylon Ltd., an Israeli public company (TASE: BBYL). [4] Babylon-Enterprise is an information delivery system that provides access to information from enterprise applications and data sources.[5] The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Or Yehuda, Israel. With 100 million users in 2011, Babylon holds the Guiness World Record for the highest number of downloads of a language solution software.[6]

History

In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia identified the need for an online English–Hebrew dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process. The company was founded in 1997 and filed a patent that same year.[7] The year after its launch date in 1998, the company had 2 million users, mostly in Germany and Brazil,[8] growing from 420,000 to 2.5 million users in the course of that year. By 2000, the company had over 4 million users. [9]

Babylon Ltd. is a publicly traded company. Its IPO took place on February 2007: Israeli businessman Noam Lanir purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder Reed Elsevier[10] and the company founder Amnon Ovadia. According to Globes magazine in January 2011, Lanir received an offer for his stake from a foreign private equity fund that valued the company at NIS 248 million (approximately 70 million dollars).[11]

Among Babylon's important clients is Novartis, which has purchased 40,000 licenses for the software. [12] In 2008-2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google. In 2010, Google Ireland signed an extended cooperation agreement with Babylon to provide it with online search and pay-per-click advertising services.[13]

In 2011, Babylon launched an on-line question and answer translation service [14]

Features

When a user clicks on text with the right mouse button or combination of the right mouse button and another key, the Babylon window appears with a translation and definition of the clicked word.[15][16] It is a tool used for translation and currency conversion, as well as for obtaining other contextual information. Babylon has a patented OCR technology and a single-click activation that works in any Microsoft Windows program, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Internet Explorer and Adobe Reader. When activated, Babylon opens a small popup window that displays the translation.

Babylon provides full text, full Web page and full document translation in 33 languages[which?] and supports integration with Microsoft Office. Babylon enables the translation of Microsoft Word documents, PDF files and plain text files. It offers results from a database of over 1,600 sources in 75 languages.[17]

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

Babylon includes built-in dictionaries, community-created dictionaries (e.g., technical terms, jokes, acronyms), and premium content for an additional cost (e.g., Encyclopædia Britannica, Oxford English Dictionary, Larousse, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary). The program also uses a text-to-speech agent to let users hear the proper pronunciation of words. Babylon Ltd. has developed 35 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 19 languages that are free of charge to purchasers of the software. These dictionaries have between 50,000 to 200,000 terms, and use a morphology engine that can recognize words in different conjugations and inflections.[18]The company has a linguistics department in charge of developing and adapting these dictionaries.[19]

Language pairs include English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Swedish, Greek, Arabic and Turkish.[20]

In addition to its in-house developed dictionaries, Babylon users have created over 1,500 reference works (mostly during its freeware period) that are available to Babylon users. These include general and technical dictionaries and monolingual glossaries. These titles span over 75 languages and are indexed under 400 categories covering subjects such as arts, business, computer, health, law, entertainment, and sports. Many of them have been compiled and submitted by Babylon users.[21]

Malware issues

In August 2010, Microsoft antivirus products identified the software application as malware due to potentially intrusive behavior.[22] Three weeks later, Microsoft announced that Babylon had modified the program and was no longer categorized as malware.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Babylon Translator". Google Play. Google. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. ^ "iBabylon". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. ^ "Babylon Translator". Microsoft Store. Microsoft. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  4. ^ Fred Schultz, Education 01/02, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2000, p.204
  5. ^ Bloomberg Businessweek
  6. ^ Translation co Babylon sets new Guinness record for downloads, Globes, 14 July 11
  7. ^ Recognition and translation system - Google Patents
  8. ^ Salon Technology | Babble on
  9. ^ http://www.formulavision.com/News-innews/INNEWS-19052002BABYLON.htm?gotobtn=7
  10. ^ Noam Lanir buys into Babylon, YNet
  11. ^ Babylon Shareholder gets offer for majority stake, Globes says
  12. ^ Novartis buys 10,000 Babylon software licenses
  13. ^ Babylon extends deal with Google, Globes, 26 December 2010
  14. ^ Babylon aims to be the quora of translation
  15. ^ PC world, Volume 19, Issues 4-6. 2001. p. 123
  16. ^ Introduction to reference sources in the health sciences, Jeffrey T. Huber, Jo Anne Boorkman, Jean Blackwell. Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2008. p.127
  17. ^ About Babylon Ltd. Retrieved May 10th, 2011
  18. ^ Evaluation Guide of Babylon 6 (Spanish)
  19. ^ Babylon - There's Nothing Like Experience
  20. ^ Bloomberg Businessweek
  21. ^ Free Dictionary Lookup by Babylon. Babylon.com (2001-08-02). Retrieved on 2010-11-09.
  22. ^ "Definition change log for version 1.87.1429.0". Microsoft Malware Protection Center – Threat Research and Response. Microsoft corporation. 7 August 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Encyclopedia entry: Adware:Win32/Babylon". Microsoft Malware Protection Center – Threat Research and Response. Microsoft corporation. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010. This program was detected by definitions prior to 1.87.2231.0 as adware, as it violated the guidelines by which Microsoft identifies spyware and other potentially unwanted software. The vendor subsequently modified the program so as to remove the undesired behavior. Due to this vendor action, Microsoft has confirmed that the program no longer has potentially unwanted behaviors. Microsoft has released definition 1.87.2231.0, which no longer detects this program.

Further reading

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