Re: ISO/IEC 10646 as Document Character Set

Gavin Nicol (gtn@ebt.com)
Thu, 4 May 95 21:47:48 EDT

>I don't view it as a political move at all. I view it as a necessary
>step in making the World-Wide Web world-wide. If there is a better
>foundation to lay to accomplish this, then I'd sure like to hear about
>it. I don't think there is.

I have been pushing this for 6 months, because of my conviction that
there is nothing better, *expecially* in conjunction with SGML/HTML.

>It's a matter of laying the foundation. I can tell you now that "a
>complete specification" for I18N of the Web is a good ways off. I18N
>has a lot of quicksand running through its veins in which many a good
>engineer has been lost. Decoupling the change to 10646 as docset from
>I18N will permit progress by innovative implementors to create the solutions
>people are looking for.

Yes, it's an enabling technology, as I've said. It is a small change
with profound long term effects.