From: Asmus Freytag (asmusf@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Thu Jul 03 2008 - 12:26:30 CDT
On 7/3/2008 9:35 AM, John Hudson wrote:
> Michael S. Kaplan wrote:
>
>> This is my opinion is that Microsoft should make them a case pair in
>> the next version of Windows.
>>
>> (ref: http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2008/02/24/7864631.aspx)
>
> I can imagine either a locale preference setting at the system level
> or at the application level (e.g. Word Options), enabling the user to
> decide whether to case ß to SS or the new uppercase Eszett character.
One problem not addressed by just a new character code or just new
uppercase rules is that the German keyboard has '?' in the shift
position for the key that produces the sharp s. Unfortunately, that's
not a rare symbol - way more frequently used than an uppercase sharp s.
As a result, I fear, the inertia and/or resistance will impede a shift
to a keyboard layout that implements the sharp s as a regular shift-pair.
All that encoding the capital sharp s has done is level the playing
field: it is now possible for the minority usage to be supported as part
of the IT infrastructure, and that gives it a chance to become majority
usage over time. A chance, that is, but by no means a certainty.
A./
>
> John Hudson
>
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