Subject: Re: (i18n 49) Re: Japanese Profile (#439)

From: Arne Thormodsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 90 10:49:11 pst

> > Doing programming for Japan depending on the knowledge that one
> > date format displays the Era and the other the western date
> > seems messy to me.
> > 
> > Keld
> 
> Right, American programmers should not have to worry about the
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Japanese users' particular preferences.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Erik

I'm coming into this discussion a bit late, but I'd like to point out a
"philisophical" distinction in the use of NLS by different programmers.

There will be (in my view) two classes of NLS users:

1> Developers who want to make an internationalized application which
will be acceptable in any market.

2> Developers who want to make an application specificly for a market
other than "their own".

The first class will want a general method of specifying dates which
will work anywhere.  The second class will want to specify dates in a
way which will appear completely natural to a user in a specific culture
(i.e.  totally indistinguishable from a locally produced product).  NLS
tools should serve both classes of users.

Some American programmers SHOULD and DO worry about the Japanese users'
particular preferences, and I assure you that many Japanese programers
(engineers, marketeers, etc.)  worry about specific American
preferences.  This is a necessity when competing against domestic
companies in a "foreign" market.  The Japanese have succeeded (wildly)
in US markets by paying attention to specific local needs, not by making
generic products.

I feel that by providing both "default" and "culture specific"
formatting tools, NLS will have the broadest possible usefulness.

--arne

Arne Thormodsen
Hewlett-Packard
CSG Internationalization