On 5/29/2012 10:31 AM, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
It’s no more urgent than encoding a new phonetic or mathematical
symbol or hieroglyph. You still have to allow ten years or so for
delivery (i.e., for everything needed to make the symbol *reasonably*
safe to use in information interchange and processing).
No, these are specialists symbols, used by tiny segments of scholars or
scientists. They are important, but not on the same scale as currency
symbols
To drive home the distinction: while not every piece of text written in
and for the population of a given country contains the currency symbol,
it's effectively that case that each and every member of that population
will essentially not go for a day without encountering that symbol in
print or online. That's use on a rather massive scale.
That sudden, wide-spread use leads to strong demand for rapid solutions,
and to allow early and uniform solutions requires up-front
standardization of character codes. Some fonts and keyboards may exist
for as long as 10 years without proper support for the new symbol, but
that's the wrong way of looking at it. A substantial number of resources
(provided by a considerable number of independently acting vendors) will
become available in response to the demand - and quickly.
A./
