Re: Revised language on: ISO/IEC 10646 as Document Character Set

Martin J Duerst (mduerst@ifi.unizh.ch)
Thu, 11 May 95 16:18:19 EDT

>
>Ned Freed <NED@SIGURD.INNOSOFT.COM> wrote:
>> I agree that this is a key issue. You've already lost the battle if you
>> let the question of whether or not character sets exist that are
>> "richer" than 10646 even get asked. The MIME work provided ample
>> evidence that this is a highly political question, so much so that
>> different groups will give different answers and nothing will ever
>> persuade them to change their position.
>
>As an active participant in the development of IEEE 1003 POSIX
>standards which reference the ISO/IEC 10646 standard, and in the
>activities to get the POSIX standards approved as ISO standards, let me
>add my voice to Ned's that this is a *VERY* political question. He is
>*completely* correct that if you even let the question be asked, you
>have lost the battle.

No. The problem is less with politics. The problem is that
everybody thinks (s)he is knows what characters are, or should be,
there are only few experts who know all the issues involved and
can explain what is really needed and what not. And these experts
are usually not taking part in the discussion.

Regards, Martin.