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From: info-mac@utcsrgv.UUCP (info-mac)
Newsgroups: ont.micro.mac
Subject: Re: May/June issue of MacWorld--Japanese/Chinese character sets
Message-ID: <4061@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Apr-84 02:36:08 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.4061
Posted: Fri Apr 27 02:36:08 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Apr-84 03:14:56 EST
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Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
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Date: Thursday, 26 April 1984 00:12:24 EST
From: uw-beaver!Tom.Wood@cmu-ri-fas.arpa
To: Danny Mailman <dsm@rice.arpa>
Cc: info-mac@sumex-aim.arpa
Subject: Re: May/June issue of MacWorld--Japanese/Chinese character sets
In-Reply-To: <46.dsm.Tethys@Rice>

    Sorry for the delay--been swamped with mail, among other things.

    In fact, the MacWorld article does have a little bit to say about
Japanese character sets (reprinted here w/o permission) . . .

    "The first international delivery of Macs will be to the U.K., Germany,
France, Italy, and Australia.  The second international delivery will be to
Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, and Latin America.  Languages that
don't use the Roman alphabet, such as Japanese, Arabic, and Hebrew, require
much deeper reworking of the Mac.  [Alain] Rossman [product manager of
international Mac team] remarks, `The Japanese version presents a dual
problem.  First, we have to make the machine capable of an 8000-character
set.  There will have to be changes in the hardware inside the machine.
Then we'll need to design a keyboard capable of accepting that huge
character set.  We will also have the task of translating all the
documentation and software.'

    "Rossman admits that it's going to take a lot of work to get the Japanese
version out: `Remember, it will be the first time that Japanese people type.
There is no standard for that task because all business communication in
Japan is handwritten.'  He estimates that Japanese Macs will be available in
six to ten months.

    "The changes necessary for the Arabic and Hebrew versions should be less
extreme since the character sets of those languages are a standard size.
Still, problems must be worked out, such as changing the machine to read and
write text from right to left as is characteristic of Hebrew and Arabic."

				 -Tom Wood
				  (taw@cmu-ri-fas)