Re: Unicode

[mikew50@aol.com (MikeW50)]

> Only now are OS's even supporting Unicode.  Windows NT was the first
that I know of with MacOS and Solaris trailing.

Actually, Windows NT support is still rather sketchy. For example, there is no
way to create Unicode edit items in the US version of Windows NT, nor is there
any way to, say, create an edit window in the US version that will handle
Japanese (one of the languages I was interested in supporting) and translating
the result back and forth to Unicode.

While the Mac does not have OS level support for Unicode, it _is_ possible to
create TextEdit boxes that support Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, etc. The
Mac also has routines that can convert these admittedly Mac-specific results to
and from Unicode. So while Windows NT may have more O/S level support, it's
actually considerably easier to write a Mac program to display and edit
Unicode.

Take it from one who's tried... :)

I understand that the next release of Windows NT will have Unicode support for
Edit items. I'm waiting, hoping it's true. I have not heard of any plans for
any sort of support for Unicode in the US version of Windows 98, nor have I
heard of any plans for a reasonable way (like the one on the Mac) to handle
Japanese or other large character-set languages on the US version of Windows
98. If anyone knows something about this I don't, I'd sure like to hear about
it.

Mike Westerfield