On June 18 Unix International Asia-Pacific announced a draft of a Unix System V Common Japanese Language Environment specfication, developed jointly with its members including Fujitsu Ltd, Oki Electric Industry Co, NEC Corp, Nippon Sun Microsystems, Fuji Xerox and others. The problem until now (and it will still exist for some time to come) is that almost every Japanese hardware vendor has developed its own specifications for the Japanese language environment under which applications are developed. The Unix International effort, which began last June as a Special Interest Group on Japanese localisation issues, under the Internationalisation Work Group tackled the difficult task of setting standards on a variety of issues including the base operating system, windows systems and graphical user interface, always bearing in mind goals such as compatibility, portability, interoperability and scalability of applications developed. The draft document sets three sets of guidelines: Level 1 covers mandatory specifications that should be supported by hardware vendors; Level 2 is specifications that it is desirable are supported by such vendors; and Level 3, covering guidelines for independent software vendors and users. The recommendations on the base system were based on the Multi-level National Language Specfication, with a Japanese Locale value. In terms of Japanese character and code sets, the specification supported the latest JIS X0212 extended Kanji encoding in the EUC standard; extensions to the terminfo command to support features such as vertical (top to bottom) display of characters; Japanese Open Look as the grapical user interface; Japanese input systems from X Window are already offered by a number of Japanese firms.
Input phonetically
In two areas only, the Unix International members were unable to agree: standardisation of keyboard input methods for Japanese language (Japanese is usually input phonetically from a normal QWERTY keyboard, but interpretation of keystrokes varies somewhat between vendors); and a common specification for bringing together the several different implementations of troff which are the basis for Japanese Documentors Work Bench. The draft specification will be passed over to Unix System Laboratories Pacific for further work. Mr Monden, senior manager of development, integration and technical support at Unix Labs Pacific emphasised that with the appearance of a common and accepted standard, Unix Labs felt obliged to provide product conforming to the standard as soon as possible. Representatives of the vendors were on hand for the announcement to support Unix International Asia-Pacific director Yumio Imamura in his contention that the Common Japanese Language Environment specifications represented a clear statement of direction for software developers and application vendors. Unix International will be supporting software and application conversion activities from next month when it opens its Business Support Centre. Sony Corp was the only Unix International member not adding its full support to implemention of the new draft document. This is because its Sony News workstation currently runs Berkeley Unix only and also has a different Japanese language code set. Commercial realities will force Sony to provide an upgrade path for existing users if or when a switch to System V.4 is made. Unix International recently opened an office in Singapore, in premises shared with Unix Labs. Unix Labs Pacific has revealed that as well as the Singapore office, it is looking toward establishing a base in Australia although details are not yet clear. – Anita Byrnes
