On August 24, 2002, Apple Computer released Macintosh OS X 10.2. Among the many improvements included in that now-ancient release was the first official support for ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i (the Hawaiian language) by any major computer platform.
The story, originally published by the Honolulu Advertiser, was syndicated by Associated Press and was picked up by over a hundred news outlets (here it is on MacWorld). Here is the original press release sent out by Hale Kuamo‘o on that date. I later posted a story about how a serendipitous meeting at Apple’s headquarters led to this development. I couldn’t share the backstory at the time because Brian was still employed at Apple and remained with them for years. Time sure flies. Mahalo to everyone who helped to make this possible. All of us continue to reap the benefits of this achievement in normalizing ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i in the technological realm.
