Arsa Lisa Moore: > > Dear Marion, > > After checking the mail lists upon returning from vacation/holiday, I found > the following comment on the most recent Unicode conference in Dublin > rather surprising...
I missed reading mail over the wkend myself, Lisa - I was away cavorting in the provinces, with sweet-smelling horses nibbling on my collar.:-) > > As a matter of fact, we specifically designed the Dublin Unicode Conference > to tie in with the substantial Dublin localization industry. I am quite That is what I had been expecting since plans to hold a conference in Dublin were first mooted some yrs ago, and why, since its planners had had ample time since then, I was very surprised Unicode failed to fill all, or even most of the main '�ire/Ireland' slots on its panels with Irish experts based in Dublin. > sorry if this purpose was misunderstood. Our keynote speaker you refer to > was from the Localization Research Institute of the University of Limerick. > The speaker you selected knows his stuff, seems glad to be in LU, and LU equally glad to have him, and I hope that, unlike Ken, he didn't take my earlier mail as any kind of an insult, Ireland being very much a place of provincial pride, and everyone proud of his/her own province - I love participating in LU workshops and giving the odd lecture in LU (home of some of the best of Irish expertise), but I could hardly but have more pride in the IT/Linguistics Departments of Dublin's universities, and think their lack of platform places at 'Dublin' Conference Unicode's loss, not theirs. I also believe that (whatever Unicode's usual protocol) it would have been smart to reserve the '�ire/Ireland' designation for Irish experts at its Dublin conference, and US/Germany/wherever for speakers of different origins, as do other conferences visiting here (even dual-labelling would have been ok). > It is too bad that you were not able to attend, particularly since you have Well able, but chose not to, for reasons I hope you can now begin to appreciate. > a great interest in Unicode implementations (as do I). We were able to > showcase implementations ranging from top US IT businesses, to many Great to have top US IT participation, as always. > interesting worldwide case studies, localization, etc. I think you would > have enjoyed it (in addition to the local pub:-). The locals didn't miss out on the pub, Lisa - no conference could drive Dubliners away from their usual haunts - but surely it would have been that much more enjoyable, had Unicode made as much room for locals on its Conference platform, as locals made our Unicode visitors in the hotel bar? > > Implementation is truly where "the rubber meets the road", to use an > American idiom. In this regard, the conferences have a goal to champion So I understood - and don't get all this heat on the list when asked about 'implementaion'. > leading edge Unicode implementations. I particularly enjoyed hearing from > a British mobile phone company at the Dublin conference... Most enjoyable, I'm sure. May we take it that, when Unicode nest visits London/Berlin, people from '�ire/Ireland', in keeping with Unicode's 'Dublin protocol', will be offered the best of the 'UK'/'DE' seats?:-) Seriously, though, may I ask you if you are on the staff of Unicode, Lisa, and, if so, how many permanent, full-time staff does it have? I was once told Unicode's entire staff consisted of one contract worker (Rick McGowan), and given to understand that that was one of the main reasons your company required such a lot of practical assistance from other companies (including EGT). Maybe that is no longer correct. Is it? Not that size really matters: EGT has always been small, yet, having just won more contracts in the past 3 quarters than in the previous 2 years, my partner in EGT and I would like to maintain they modest, but steady profit margins we have today, and to increase them, if possible, through careful investment in worthwhile projects (Unicode was a worthwhile project - just not worth the thousands per year it cost EGT!). I wish to invite useful suggestions on short-term IT projects from people able to honour confidentiality agreements and understand the technical aspects, to work for EGT on a paid or profit-sharing basis. To return to matters more important to other list members, let me say that I appreciate Peter Constable's attempt to reply to my badly-phrased query, and ask him, making due allowance for my ignorance, to tell me what WG32's timetable for 10646 now is. mg -- Marion Gunn * E G T (Estab.1991) vox: +353-1-2839396 * [EMAIL PROTECTED] 27 P�irc an Fh�ithlinn; Baile an Bh�thair; Contae �tha Cliath; �ire
