Text 20293, 141 rader
Skriven 2011-06-30 20:47:21 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 20212 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Foreign misconceptions of the USA
=========================================
Hello Michiel,

 RB>> since I don't use non-ASCII characters on principle to avoid putting
 RB>> garbage on readers that can't or don't handle such characters  - of
 RB>> which there are still many around).

 MvdV> Backward compatibility has it merits, but there always comes a point
that it
 MvdV> stands in the way of progress and then it is time to let go. I am sure
you
 MvdV> remember the time when computers were upper case only. That was fine
when
 MvdV> they were only used in a business environment, but now that ended some
 MvdV> thirty yeras ago when people started using computers for typewriters.
 MvdV> Today no one finds UPPER CASE ONLY acceptable.

With rare exception.

 MvdV> That turning point has been reached for ASCII ONLY some fifteen years
ago.
 MvdV> Even in FidoNet. Well, naybe 10 for FidoNet.

In today's world, ASCII ONLY is much too limiting.  Fidonet should
reflect the reality of today, rather than trying to continue living
in the past.  For example, typing (c) for copyright is passé.  The
technology exists for using the more acceptable copyright symbol (c)
than any ASCII representation of that symbol.

For those who do not know how to write the copyright symbol on
a PC, here is how to do it -

Alt+0169

Use the mumber keys on the right side of the keyboard.
It won't work if you use the number keys at the top of
the keyboard.  Even if you have a laptop and those are
the only numbers available.

Of course, you can always type -

Control+Alt+C

Maybe.

Sometimes.

If the program lets you.  :)

 MvdV> The odd thing is that unlike the InterNet FidoNet was build as an 8 bit
 MvdV> transparent medium from the start, There never was a compelling
technical
 MvdV> reason to limit text to 7 bits only. And yet somehow everyone
 MvdV> not living in Northern America was kept on a short leash and forced to
go
 MvdV> through hoops to make do with a 26 six letter aplhabet only.

Blame it on Notepad (Bill Gates' favorite text editor).

 MvdV> This has lasted to long. Highh time to drop backwards compatibility. It
 MvdV> stands in the way of progress.

The author of the Harry Potter books wrote everything in longhand.
No computer needed or necessary.  Only after she made gazillions has
she finally allowed her books to be sold as ebooks.

 MvdV> Time to shift the burden from the vast majority of non-English spekers
to
 MvdV> the few that are too lazy or incompetent to confgure their systems to
deal
 MvdV> with extended character sets. If the result is that a few get magled
 MvdV> characters on their screens, so be it. Better than forcing *everyone*
into
 MvdV> a state of cripplement by restricting them to 26 letters.

Chinese, anyone?  Japanese?  Russian?  ASL?  Egyptian Hieroglyphics?

 RB>> Bjorn doesn't like that,

 MvdV> For good reasons.

Cajun French cannot be written properly if limited to 26 characters.

 RB>> so now I just type an "o".

 MvdV> Thereby crippling his name. Typing "Bjorn" or Bjoern" is on the same
level
 MvdV> as writing "Pop" or "Beb" instead of "Bob".

It used to be that newspapers would limit print to 26 letters.
But not anymore.  Fidonet should do the same, moving forward rather
than backward.

 RB>> I can't type cyrillic characters either,

 MvdV> But you *can* type an ö. The reason you don't is not technical
limitation,
 MvdV> but stubbornness.

Or laziness.

 RB>> and would write a Russian's name in Latin characters. No sane Russian
 RB>> would object to that in an English text.

 MvdV> I wonder. There is a reason for the "TRUENAME" kludge the Russians
invented.
 MvdV>  And you may ask why there are so few iof them here.

I can tell you in two words.  Actually a first name and a last name.

 MvdV> The vast majority of FidoNet participants use the Cyrillic alphabet, but
 MvdV> very few write here.  Maybe one of the reasons is that they are
forbidden
 MvdV> to properly wite their name?

Hmmm.  Maybe I should start posting messages in Russian.  From a
Russian BBS.  Wouldn't that be fun?  I can do it.  In very mangled
Russian.  But even my worst mangled Russian is better than GWB's
mangled English.

Scratch that.  I've got an idea for Björn to try.  If he's game.

 MV>> I suspect that in Swedish simply replacing 'ö' by 'oe' does not
 MV>> work either.

 RB>> Apparently not, but Bjorn makes himself look pretty silly with his
 RB>> insistance on using the character,

 MvdV> I beg to differ. Going through some effort to correctly spell people's
name
 MvdV> is a matter of courtesy. And in this case, it requires very little
 MvdV> effort, all you have to do is remove that automatic transliteration.

Oh, yeah?  Try to pronounce my name (Lee) in Japanese.  Or try
to write it in Japanese.  Or try to transliterate it in Japanese.
It comes across like "Ree" more than anything else, as there is
no "L" sound in Japanese.

--Lee

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 * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)