The move is a step towards allowing people to address internet domains using the characters of their native language and the Unicode standard. Currently only ASCII characters, which fully address only a handful of European languages, can be used.
The next step is for developers to build support for Punycode into their applications. VeriSign already distributes a plug-in for Internet Explorer, i-Nav, that converts Unicode to RACE, one of Punycode’s predecessor potential standards.
VeriSign said it will change i-Nav to use Punycode instead. In RACE, domains converted to ASCII were prefixed with the tag bq–, whereas in Punycode, the tag xn-- has been selected. The company also intends to extend i-Nav to support domains beyond the .com, .net, .jp and .kr it currently handles.
About 900,000 IDNs have been registered since VeriSign started offering them, via its channel of registrars, in November 2000. Since then, the names have only worked for the web, and only for i-Nav users.
VeriSign was criticized by standards bodies in 2000 for jumping the gun in offering such a service before standards were available, and was criticized again recently when it started using its .com and .net name servers to promote i-Nav adoption.
Source: Computerwire
