On Tue, 14 Nov 2000, Rick McGowan wrote:
> Mike Ayers wrote:
> > The last I knew,
> > computer-savvy Taiwan and Hong Kong were continuing to invent new
> > characters. In the end, the onus is on the computer to support the user.
>
> Yes, the computer should support the user, but... The invention of new characters to serve multitudes is OK, and international standards will probably continue to support that. But I don't think it's reasonable or appropriate to keep inventing new characters willy-nilly for individuals (as reported), and then expect them to be added to an international standard. That's silly. The onus is not on international standards to support the whimsical production of novel, rarely-used, or nonce characters of the type reported to be generated.
> In any case, I still have never seen actual documentary evidence that would prove to me that in fact Taiwan and Hong Kong *ARE* creating new characters at the drop of a hat. People just keep saying that to scare everyone. Sounds like an urban myth to me.
I think there is some confusion between "new characters" in the sense that
they were never available in any standard, but which are taken from
pre-existing print sources, and now people would like to properly add
them; versus "new characters" that were made up "yesterday" for frivolous
reasons.
Thomas Chan
tc31@cornell.edu
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