Browser IDN display policy: opinions sought

[Michel Suignard]

I am pretty much on Paul's side here. I was somewhat involved in the IE design concerning the display policy and although I knew the Firefox choice then I never had much sympathy for it. It basically meant that you were blacklisting large TLDs forever because you could not guarantee that all registered entries would ever be 'safe'. And I don't want to go in how do you establish public rules determining which TLDs are blacklisted. It is a risky business to be in if you are a commercial entity.
Putting the user in charge through 'accepted' languages seemed to me  much better alternative. It has the unfortunate side effect of isolating English speaking folks from IDN benefit but that can be worked out by educating users. And it still offer a greater level of safety while allowing domain users of any TLD to experiment IDN.
Personally I still have no doubt that the A) solution was the best then and still the best today.

Michel
Totally speaking for myself. I have no link anymore with Microsoft and IE design decision.