Unicode versions (Re: Criteria for exceptional characters)

[Harald Alvestrand]

--On 17. desember 2006 00:37 +0000 Michael Everson <everson at evertype.com> 
wrote:

> At 15:58 -0800 2006-12-16, Mark Davis wrote:
>
>> The major problems I see with the current system* are:
>>
>> 1. It does not allow Unicode 5.0 characters.
>
> To be honest, we MUST refer to Unicode 5.1. Of course, all characters in
> Unicode 5.0 are important, but if Unicode 5.1 is not taken as the
> benchmark, the Myanmar (Burmese) script will be left out, and that is
> simply not something that can be countenanced.
>

This comment illustrates that the "major problem" as stated by Mark needs a 
restatement.
My suggestion would be:

1. It is bound to a specific version of Unicode, and therefore does not 
allow the adoption of new scripts over time.

If that is accepted as the problem definition, it is reasonable to assume 
that a solution does NOT lock us again into a fixed set of scripts, but 
rather allows scripts to be added in an incremental fashion.
And if that is accepted, the option of disallowing a script "until we have 
sorted out the identified issues" becomes far less of an issue than it 
seems to be regarded by Mark/Ken/Michel today
(apologies if I have mischaracterized a position here).

I think.

                     Harald