At 10/14/98 7:23 AM, Elliotte Rusty Harold (elharo@sunsite.unc.edu) wrote:
>Cool! But will the necessary input methods and fonts actually be included
>with MacOS 8.5 as they will in NT 5.0? Or are we Mac users still stuck in a
>world where international text is an extra cost option, assuming we can
>even find the right language kit?
We are not currently bundling input methods with our OS, including OS
8.5. However, OS 8.5 contains a feature called "Multilingual Internet
Access" (an optional install), which is basically one keyboard and one
font from each Language Kit except Cyrillic: Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, Indic. No input methods. The intent is to allow
read-only access to the web or to documents. Input in non-CJK languages
is not supported but is possible.
If you want input methods, you can order the appropriate Language Kits
from most Mac mail-order places, like MacWarehouse. Right now, we are
balancing our user's desire for bundled language capabilities with the
fact that our Language Kits generate revenue, and Apple is not in a
position to forego revenue at this point.
The new Kotoeri 2.2, part of Mac OS 8.5-J, supports entry of Unicode
characters beyond the MacJapanese repertoire; it uses ATSUI to display
its human interface. However, until applications that support Unicode
input are available, you won't be able to use those new characters.
Hope this helps,
David Goldsmith
International and Text Department Architect
Apple Computer, Inc.
goldsmith@apple.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:42 EDT