Subject: Re: Whither Unicode?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 09:36:47 EDT

[email-masked] (Larry Gilbert) writes:
>
> My questions:  Where is Unicode now?  Is it being used, or indeed
> is there support for it?

Support is coming soon, but is not yet available in the mainstream.
Plan 9 (the follow-on OS after research's Version 8 Unix) implements
Unicode, using UTF (multibyte encoding scheme) for files.  Microsoft's
NT has support for Unicode, and may be available soon.  And Taligent
(formerly Apple's Pink project) also will support Unicode.

> This book, which was printed around September 1991, seems
> to indicate that Unicode would be incorporated into the framework
> of a larger 32-bit international character set ("ISO DIS 10646");
> does anyone know the status of this ISO standard?

DIS2 of 10646 is currently out for review.  Voting takes place this
June, I believe.  Unicode and 10646 have been merged in this DIS2.
A committee just finished unifying and ordering the Han (ideographic)
character repertoire.  This is part of the 10646 work, and will also
appear as volume 2 of the Unicode book.

> (Meta-question:  Is this an appropriate newsgroup for discussing this?)

Probably.  I'm getting mighty sick of troff questions; this seems more
interesting.  An alternative newsgroup would be comp.std.internat, but
that degenerated into a flamefest and people stopped reading it.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 09:36:59 EDT

[email-masked] (Larry Gilbert) writes:

>The other day, I purchased a book entitled _The Unicode Standard: Worldwide
>Character Encoding_ (Version 1.0, Volume 1) by The Unicode Consortium,
>published by Addison-Wesley (ISBN 0-201-56788-1).  I was happy to find it,
>mostly because it does a thorough job of following through with an idea similar
>to one I've had for a while.

>For those unfamiliar with Unicode, it is a standard (not yet officially
>recognized) which attempts to unify most major world character encoding
>standards into one standard which uses 16-bit character codes.

[Original statement of questions omitted]

[24788] FRI 04/10/92 15:22 FROM BR.JMA "Joan Aliprand": The Unicode Standard;
Larry Gilbert asks several questions about Unicode:

1.  Where is Unicode now?  Is it being used, or indeed is there support for it?

2.  "The Unicode Standard" seems to indicate that Unicode would be incorporated
    into the framework of a larger 32-bit international character set ("ISO DIS
    10646"); does anyone know the status of this ISO standard?

3. Meta-question:  Is this an appropriate newsgroup for discussing this?

Answer to Question 1:
The Unicode standard is very much alive.  Vol. 2 of the "The Unicode Standard,"
which covers East Asian ("Han") ideographic characters is being readied for
publication.

The corporations that belong to the Unicode Consortium show their support
for the Unicode standard in three ways:  they pay dues for membership in
the Consortium; their employees participate in various activities
(primarily the Unicode Technical Committee); they host workshops on
implementing the Unicode standard.  And (of course) some of the
corporations that belong to the Unicode Consortium are incorporating
Unicode into future products.

The list of acknowledgements in "The Unicode Standard" identifies the
companies and individuals who contributed to its development.  The July
1991 issue of BYTE includes an article ("ASCII Goes Global" by Kenneth M.
Sheldon) that gives an overview of the Unicode standard and a little
about its history.

Answer to Question 2:
Unicode's character repertoire and encoding have been incorporated into the
latest draft of ISO's Universal Character Set (DIS 10646-1.2).  The DIS is
currently being balloted; the closing date is 5/30/92.

The U.S. position on DIS 10646 is the responsibility of ANSI Subcommittee X3L2.

Comment on Question 3:
You can be added to the Unicode mailing list by sending a note with your e-mail
address to [email-masked].  This is the best arena for discussing
Unicode-related topics.

Author's background:
You'll find my name in the list of acknowledgements in "The Unicode Standard."
My employer, The Research Libraries Group, Inc., is a member of the Unicode
Consortium.

-- Joan Aliprand

P.S.

The following press release from Microsoft mentions that the Japanes
version of Windows 3.1 supports Unicode (here spelled "Uni-code").

>  ---------------------------- Text of forwarded message ---------------------
>
>
> TOKYO, JAPAN, 1992 MAR 16 (NB) -- The Japanese office of Microsoft
> will release a Japanese version of Windows 3.1 this summer. This
> will be an upgrade to Windows 3.0.
>
> Microsoft Windows 3.1 has a 32-bit application interface, and is
> compatible with Windows NT. This program also supports
> Truetype outline fonts, the same system supported on Apple's
> Macintosh. Also, Windows 3.1 supports multimedia features and
> object-oriented technology. Microsoft says Windows 3.1 will be
> easier to use in the rewriting of English programs into Japanese
> because all the programs are written in a 2-byte code called
> "Uni-code."
>
> About 200,000 units of Windows 3.0 were shipped in Japan since it
> was released in February 1991. More than 100 kinds of applications
> have been developed for Windows 3.0.
>
> (Masayuki Miyazawa/19920316/Press Contact: Microsoft Tokyo office,
>  +81-3-3363-3419)