There are now several Open-Source approaches to the creation of a library of functions that are Unicode-based and used to enable the Unicode support in applications. These projects not only offer a cross-platform Unicode strategy, they also provide support for other important open source products that requires Unicode technology implementation, for example, Linux, Apache, Mozilla, XML and so on.

This panel discussion forum will introduce the panelists and their Unicode Enablement Libraries, provide an overview of what is currently implemented and available, and planned future features. There will be some discussion as to which future features are most important to the audience and should have the highest priority for implementation.

The panelists will respond to audience questions about Unicode enabling, and the different libraries' contents. The discussion will include the pros and cons of using Open Source approach to developing software and perhaps a discussion of the different policies used for accepting submissions in an Open Source environment.

There will also be discussion on how to become a contributor to the development of these libraries.

There will be some demonstrations of the libraries capabilities.