Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bpa!sjuphil!dcarpent
From: dcarpent@sjuphil.uucp (D. Carpenter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Non-English support
Message-ID: <1989Dec17.004604.25213@sjuphil.uucp>
Date: 17 Dec 89 00:46:04 GMT
References: <130053@gore.com> <1989Dec16.080754.24907@agate.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: dcarpent@sjuphil.UUCP (D. Carpenter)
Organization: Saint Joseph's University
Lines: 46

In article <1989Dec16.080754.24907@agate.berkeley.edu> izumi@violet.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa) writes:
>In article <130053@gore.com> jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) writes:
>>Please, let's separate the question of non-English support for the NeXT
>>from that NeXT-vs-Mac-nose-thumbing thread.
>>
>>What exactly is needed?
>
>Since you ask, here are my requirements/wish list:
>
>[1] Ability to support most exisiting writing systems including
>    those which employ text written right-to-left (Hebrew, Arabic),
>    and Chinese/Japanese/Korean character set where there are
>    6000+ characters, and text are written left-to-right as well
>    as top-to-bottom.  I do not consider support only of European
>    languages as multi-lingual.
I'd like to register my STRONG agreement with this.  I purchased a NeXT
as a "scholarly workstation," and for it's promise in this area to be
fully realized, support for NON-WESTERN (and not merely non-English)
languages is essential.  I'm not too worried about support for Japanese,
for some fairly obvious (read:  economic) reasons.  But support for
other languages is important as well.  I make use of Sanskrit, for
example, a "dead language" perhaps (although not quite dead, in fact),
but extremely important for one interested in the history of culture.
The same could be said for MANY other non-Western languages.  The
reception of the NeXT in some scholarly circles has been cooled somewhat
precisely because there is as yet no support for non-Western languages
(or even non-English at present).  I hope the people at NeXT have a
strong commitment to this.
>
>The cubes design choices are nearly all correct
>to build upon to carry us into the 90's.  I don't have to be
>told of a delivery date of a certain product, but I would like to
>know if a support for, e.g., Kanji is already thought out, or it
>is a major hassle to put it in.  In NeXT's case, I think the
>necessary foundation is already there.  Why not state this.
>
>Izumi Ohzawa, izumi@violet.berkeley.edu
>
Agreed.  Some indication of NeXT's intentions would be helpful.
Any volunteers?

-- 
===============================================================
David Carpenter            dcarpent@sjuphil.UUCP                    
St. Joseph's University    dcarpent%sjuphil.sju.edu@relay.cs.net    
Philadelphia, PA  19131    ST_JOSEPH@HVRFORD.BITNET