RE: Version(s) of Unicode supported by various versions of Microsoft Windows

From: Peter Constable (petercon@microsoft.com)
Date: Fri Mar 05 2004 - 12:39:25 EST

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    > From: unicode-bounce@unicode.org [mailto:unicode-bounce@unicode.org]
    On Behalf
    > Of Frank Yung-Fong Tang

    > But one way to check the
    > degree of the support is to do a GetStringTypeEx agasinst some
    > characters defined in 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0 to see does those
    > return result reflect what it should be.

    Sure; and that will tell you whether the platform has awareness of
    characters added in a given version *in relation to a particular
    purpose* -- in this case, getting information about the character
    properties. But that still doesn't tell you many things:

    - Do other APIs related to character properties also support a given
    character (e.g. IsCharAlpha)?
    - Do APIs related to case mapping or different kinds of folding work for
    this character?
    - Do string comparison APIs work for this character?
    - Is the character supported in default sorting?
    - Is tailored sorting provided for any orthography using that character?
    - If a supplementary-plane character, do APIs related to a given
    function work?
    - Does the system include any font that supports the character?
    - Does the rendering system provide correct shaping behaviour if needed?
    - Does the system provide font-fallback support if that character gets
    displayed?
    - Can the character be used in the file system?
    - Can the character be displayed in the shell's UI elements?
    - Can the character be displayed in controls provided by the platform?
    - Are there any input methods that support the character?
    - Do less central components that are bundled with the platform support
    the character? (E.g. Character Map)

    People *really shouldn't* ask "Does product X support Unicode version
    N?" They should be asking questions like "Can product X correctly
    perform function Y on such-and-such characters added in Unicode version
    N?"

    Peter
     
    Peter Constable
    Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technologies
    Microsoft Windows Division



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