Frank da Cruz wrote:
> If MIME is an interchange standard, then yes, it would be wrong. What is
> the point of codifying the internal storage format of different computer
> architectures in an interchange standard?
MIME's design wrt character sets reflects the "just-send-8-bits" chaos
that prevailed before it. MIME is a "meta-interchange standard"
from the charset viewpoint: it allows easy registration of character
sets, and emphasizes proper labeling rather than the use of a minimal
number of charsets.
This is important because of considerations of repertoire. Since
CP1252 has a larger repertoire than 8859-1, representing it using
only fully standardized 8-bit charsets would require a far clunkier
ISO 2022 solution. Instead, proper labeling means that those
who understand CP1252 can directly use its complete repertoire.
This is quite orthogonal to the point about UTF-16.
-- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! / Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge / Politzer
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