Reply to Keld�s message from August 10, 2003 regarding the proposal to move ISO/IEC 14651 to SC2

Keld,

We can play the numbers game until we are green and blue, and still find new ways to interpret official participation numbers and members of e-mail distribution lists.� Do keenly interested and actively contributing specialists loose their expertise if their country is not a member of a certain subcommittee of JTC1 ?�

I do want to comment on these paragraphs though:

I am not bashing about cooperation with Unicode, which I believe is very

useful. I am just worried about the attempts to remove

internationalization from ISO, which should be the obvious place to meet

on equal terms to cater for i18n problems for all for the world. I do

not think a industrial consortium like Unicode is the only or optimal

place where internationalization specifications should be made.

Removal of internationalization work from ISO is not something to be

considered paranoid, but very real. You can just see the documents

SC22 N3359 where is was proposed to disband WG20, and also JTC 1 N7090, where

there again is a plan to gradually disband WG20.

Last time I checked, SC2 was a subcommittee of JTC 1 which is the Joint Technical Committee of ISO and IEC.� And the SC22 ballot text states quite clearly:�

*��� SC 22's ballot question:

Contingent on SC 2's approval of a corresponding ballot to recommend

acceptance, SC22 approves a recommendation to JTC 1 to change its Program of

Work to indicate a transfer the following project from SC 22 to SC 2.

*��� JTC 1.22.30.02.02 - International String Ordering and Comparison -

Method for Comparing Character Strings and Description of a Common

Tailorable Ordering Template - Project Editor: A. LaBonte, Canada

The way I interpret this ballot is that the maintenance of ISO/IEC 14651 should go from ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 to ISO/IEC JTC1 SC2.�

You are worried about �the attempts to remove internationalization from ISO�.� Stop worrying Keld -- SC2 is ISO !�

Best regards

Arnold

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Ken,� I had a lot of other stuff in mind, but restricted myself to the bare minimum.� The documents Keld is talking about are at:

http://wwwold.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n907-22N3359-WG%2020.txt �and

http://wwwold.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n1029-J1N7090.pdf

The mailing lists he quotes are at:

http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/list

http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/list

http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/WG20/list

Any problems with sending my reply?� Any suggestion to make it better ?

And, off topic, it is time so send in the annual report for WG20 � any draft yet ?

Thanks

Arnold