Internet technologies and standards such as RFC3066 and xml:lang provide a standardized way to identify and negotiate language preferences and content in various Web technologies (such as HTML, XML, J2EE, and the like). Language preference, though, is just a portion of what is needed for truly international operation, since in most programming languages and environments the concept of a "locale" is central to providing globalized functionality.

ULocales is a proposed standard for identifying and negotiating locales in a platform neutral manner for use in a wide range of applications. It also provides a way for centralized or standardized locale repositories to be accessed in a logical manner.

This presentation will review what is wrong with the current Internet support for locales and why it matters, as well as the requirements for a solution. The presenter (and author of the ULocales proposal) will then explain and demonstrate the design for this particular solution, along with several sample implementations.