Re: XML Blueberry (non-ASCII name characters in Japan)

[Rick Jelliffe <ricko@allette.com.au>]

From: "Murata Makoto" <mura034@attglobal.net>

> Unlike Rick Jelliffe, I don't agree that newly introduced CJK
> ideographics are archaic.

I defer to Murata-san on this. There has been a long history of Westerners
not listening to Asians on standards matters and treating Asian requirements
as secondary, and now that I am not being paid to advocate a view and live
out of Asia, I should be careful I don't become part of the problem!

Nevertheless, for a lot of companies the justication for i18n is not because
of basic equity and human decency, but to allow XML-based techology  to
reach into major non-Latin markets and to tame the character set problem.
For people with that view, there may be little marginal merit in changes.

There are actually some other reasons to support extending the name
repertoires to the maximum.  If the characters are rare and never used; then
it is only a formality that presumably cannot cause any documents or systems
to fail.  If the characters belong to uncomputerized societies (e.g.
Cambodia?) then providing the characters can help them start from
state-of-the-art, rather than having to start from behind.

The IBM newline is a much more difficult issue.

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe
Topologi