Efforts to localize Linux in Nepali language had been consistently underway since January 2004.  After two years of persistent development the Nepal team of PAN Localization project succeeded in releasing the complete Linux distribution in Nepali language.

NepaLinux distribution was launched on 22^nd December, 2005 by Nepal country component of PAN

Localization project.  The launch ceremony was attended by policy makers, localization researchers, localization experts, government, academia, private sector and potential end users.  Mr. Amar Gurung project leader, PAN Localization project Nepal team hosted this ceremony.  Mr. Amar Gurung paid his gratitude to the untiring efforts made by his team and also shared the challenges the team had to face during the development of NepaLinux. 

To announce the release Mr. Kamal Mani Dixit, president of Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP) presented a complete CD of NepaLinux to Mr. Sanjeev Rajbhandri, the chief of ISP and IT company Mercantile Communications. Speaking at this launch Mr. Sanjeev said that the Nepali operating system would gain popularity once the government and private institutions endorsed and public embraced it.

Mr. Richard Ishida, team leader of Internationalization at World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was invited as keynote speaker at the launch ceremony.  Mr. Richard Ishida congratulated the Nepali team and in his keynote address  presented the issues and challenges of internationalization in relation to the World Wide Web.

Dr. Sarmad Hussain, regional project leader of PAN Localization Project, introduced the project to the audience.  He highlighted the objectives, scope and the expected outputs of PANL10n project.  He also  emphasized the importance of localization of information communication technology (ICTs) in the local languages of Asia.  As less than 10 % of Asian population understands English language thus it is necessary to remove this language barrier and make information available to the remaining 90% digitally divided population in Asia.