Ever since the term "localization" was coined in the mid eighties there has been confusion about what it really means. In the beginning it simply meant "translation on the computer for the computer". Gradually localization came to mean something more complex - complex enough to give rise to a new industry - the "localization industry". New players entered the field patronising traditional translation companies. Publishers, printers, consultants, software engineers - they were all jockeying for position in an attempt to get a piece of the action. Growth and turbulence characterized this first revolution in the translation market - the "localization revolution". My Italian translator friends laugh about the new "competition" of localization companies. They know that, irrespective of which Irish localization company wins the contract, it is likely that they will do the translation work. And occasionally the software publishers may even come to them direct. It makes me wonder who is doing what, what it is all costing, and just what is the value added by the various parties.