From: Joseph R. Grace <JGrace@TetraSoft.com>
Subject: Re: Localization: HA! <warning: flame>
Organization: TetraSoft International
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 05:33:28 GMT

In article <BvIwxp.BuK@news.cso.uiuc.edu> jeffo@uiuc.edu (J.B. Nicholson-Owens)  
writes:
>  Very slimy work for a corporation that claims to  
>  work in 7 languages.  I also don't like how the Japanese version of NeXTSTEP  
>  gets marketed affordably only in Japan.  Why not make it just another  
language  
>  to click on in the Preferences panel and/or when you first set up 3.0?  I'd  
say  
>  because NeXT/Canon can wrongly sponge more money out of NeXT users that way,  
>  that's why.  Have you checked the price of the Japanese NeXTSTEP as sold in  
the  
>  US?
>  -- Jeff (jeffo@uiuc.edu)
>  -- NeXTmail ok

Well, I don't know what NeXT is really thinking, but on this one I would have  
to give them the credit of the doubt for several reasons.  Clearly, they have  
resource problems (if not scarcity then management thereof).  And if you look  
at localization (and many of the niggling 3.0 bugs) from their perspective,  
they simply bit off *a*lot* and had to say "ship it".  Considering 3.0 mostly  
just works, they're doing pretty well.  The time they save translates  
immediately into market presence which is what NeXT most needs right now --- to  
gain customers and stake a claim in the rising PlatformWars (tm).  Timing in  
this PlatformWars market is *very* important --- especially when you're the  
smallest with the mostest.  (Look where Motorola is after Intel beat them to  
market with the 8088 monster;  I hope I'm not warping history too much, but I  
think that's basically what happened.  And if not Motorola, check National  
Semiconductor's CPU (I don't even remember its designation! NS32000?).)

Also, on the technical side:

Japanese text is displayed vertically (not horizontally) and the Japanese  
character set(s) is far larger and keyboard input far more complicated than for  
us Westerners.  I think NeXT would prefer NS3.0J were no different than the  
other versions (I heard this at NeXTExpo "92).  Nevertheless, they are solving  
the problems of Japanese support one-by-one and are presumably working in that  
direction step by step.

Which brings me to my final point:

3.0 incorporates a lot of well architected (designed) operating system support  
for things like localization and help (and lots more, of course) --- neither of  
which are really *used* yet.  I think NeXT is approaching these problems in a  
stepwise fashion.  First, organize the system with features to support what  
people need and want (e.g., localization and help); then release because time  
is money, because people want the stuff now, because it'll never be perfect,  
and because certain phases of a project will simply postpone delivery since  
they can't be dovetailed with development (e.g., thorough localization and  
thorough help).  Second, now that the features are in place, NeXT will figure  
out how best (at least 1st cut) to use them and take advantage of them (think  
NS3.1 here :-).

Anyway, I don't know what the real story is and don't have any official  
answers, but my guess (more sure on the Japanese stuff) is that much of this  
work is either deceptively complicated or couldn't proceed until *after*  
development, and NeXT just decided they had reached a point of diminishing  
returns with further postponement.  Frankly, with Windows NT, Solaris and OS/2  
slobbering all over the market, I am *glad* NeXT just got NS3.0 out (it may not  
be *too* late, but it's definitely late enough).

Anyway, I think NeXT is just making progress step-by-step, and this step was  
providing architectural support.  Presumably, the next step will be use of the  
support for things like thorough localization and help.  (Can you say "NS3.1"?  
:-)

Cheers,

= Joe =
-- 
Joe Grace <JGrace@TetraSoft.com> (NeXTMail preferred.)
TetraSoft International   Business and Personal Productivity Tools for NeXTSTEP