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Babylon (software)

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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] based in Or Yehuda. The company was established in 1997 by the Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia. Its IPO took place ten years later. Babylon includes in-house proprietary dictionaries, as well as community-created dictionaries and glossaries. It is a tool used for translation and conversion of currencies, measurements and time, and for obtaining other contextual information. The program also uses a text-to-speech agent so users hear the proper pronunciation of words and text. Babylon has developed 36 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 21 languages. In 2008–2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google.

Babylon has set a Guinness World Record for the most downloaded desktop translation software. As of June 22, 2011, it is downloaded 105,352,213 times.[5]

Babylon's translation software prompts to add the Babylon Toolbar, identified as a browser hijacker.[6][7] The toolbar also comes bundled as an add-on with other software downloads.[8] It changes browser preferences such as the user's home page and search engine, changes that can be very difficult to reverse.[9][10]

History

In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia began a project for an online English–Hebrew dictionary which would not interrupt the reading process. As a result, Babylon Ltd. was founded in 1997 and launched the first version of Babylon. On 25 September 1997, the company filed a patent for text recognition and translation.[11] In 1998, a year following its launch date, Babylon had two million users, mostly in Germany and Brazil,[12] growing from 420,000 to 2.5 million users in the course of that year. In the same year, Formula Systems, headed by Dan Goldstein, acquired Mashov Computers and became the largest shareholder in the company. By 2000, the product had over 4 million users.[13] In the spring of 2000, Babylon Ltd. failed to raise $20 million in a private placement and lost NIS 15 million.[14] Further stress came with the collapse of the Dot-com bubble. In 2001, Babylon Ltd. continued shedding money, with the company costing its parent company Formula Vision NIS 4.7 million.[15]

Since 2007, Babylon Ltd. (TASE: BBYL) has been a publicly traded company. Its IPO took place in February 2007; Israeli businessman Noam Lanir purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder Reed Elsevier[16] 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).[17]

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.[18]

In 2011, Babylon was named the seventh most popular website in Libya, the eighth in Algeria and the eleventh in Tunisia.[19] Babylon has set a Guinness World Record for the most downloaded desktop translation software. As of June 22, 2011, it is downloaded 105,352,213 times.[5]

Product features

A single click on any text using the right mouse button or combination of the right mouse button and a keyboard modifier, and the Babylon window appears providing a translation and definition of the clicked term.[20][21] Babylon is a tool used for translation and conversion of currencies, measurements and time, and for obtaining other contextual information. Babylon has a patented[specify] OCR technology and a single-click activation that works in any Microsoft Windows application, 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 or definition. Babylon provides full text translation, full Web page and full document translation in many languages and supports integration with Microsoft Office. Babylon enables the translation of Microsoft Word documents and plain text files. It offers results from a database of over 1,700 sources in over 75 languages.[22]

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

Babylon includes its in-house proprietary dictionaries, community-created dictionaries and glossaries (UGC), which include general and technical dictionaries, language and monolingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias and lexicons in a multitude of languages. They are indexed in 400 categories covering the arts, business, computers, health, law, entertainment, sports and so on.[23]

The software also uses a text-to-speech agent so users hear the proper pronunciation of words and text. Babylon Ltd. has developed 36 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 21 languages (English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish) that are free of charge to users of the software. These dictionaries comprise between 60,000 to 200,000 terms, phrases, acronyms and abbreviations and are enabled with a morphological engine which facilitates recognition of all inflected forms of single words and phrases, provides all forms of terms that include prefixes and extensions and supplies a solution for all formats of writing. Babylon's Linguistic Department is responsible for the extensive content and information database which is a significant component of Babylon’s Product.[24]

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. ^ Schultz, Fred (2000). Education 01/02. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-07-243317-3.
  5. ^ a b "Most downloaded desktop translation software". Guinness World Records. 22 June 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  6. ^ Remove Babylon Toolbar and “Search the web (Babylon)” Malwaretips.com February 15, 2012
  7. ^ "Babylon Search Hijacker". im-infected.com. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  8. ^ Getting rid of Babylon Jay Lee, The Houston Chronicle, July 25, 2012
  9. ^ Remove FBI & Babylon Zombie Virus PCPitstop.com, author Steve Hogan, October 11, 2012
  10. ^ How To Uninstall The Babylon Toolbar Completely Martin Brinkmann, ghacks.net, August 17, 2011
  11. ^ "Recognition and translation system". Google Patents. Google. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  12. ^ "Babble on". Salon Media Group, Inc. 2 November 1999. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  13. ^ Blackburn, Nicky (2002). "By The Users of Babylon". Formula Vision. Formula Vision Technologies Ltd. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 September 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Formula Vision Technologies
  15. ^ TheStreet.com : Formula Vision lost NIS 33.6 million in 2001 | TheMarker.com
  16. ^ Noam Lanir buys into Babylon, YNet
  17. ^ Ackerman, Gwen (19 January 2011). "Babylon Shareholder gets offer for majority stake, Globes says". Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  18. ^ Babylon extends deal with Google, Globes, 26 December 2010
  19. ^ Israel’s Babylon Says Arab World to Boost Sales of Translation Software
  20. ^ PC World. 19 (4–6): 123. 2001. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ^ Huber, Jeffrey T; Boorkman, Jo Anne; Blackwell, Jean (2008). Introduction to reference sources in the health sciences. Neal-Schuman Publishers. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-55570-636-4.
  22. ^ "About Babylon – Simply Translate". Babylon Ltd. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  23. ^ Free Dictionary Lookup by Babylon. Babylon.com (2001-08-02). Retrieved on 9 November 2010.
  24. ^ Stauber, Shuki. "Babylon – There's Nothing Like Experience". Jobs-israel.com. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

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