draft-phillips-langtags-08, process, sp ecifications, "stability", and extensions

[Peter Constable]

> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:ietf-languages-
> bounces at alvestrand.no] On Behalf Of JFC (Jefsey) Morfin


> >   If there's any defending the presence of an
> >*algorithm* in a BCP at all, it's because we are not making the
algorithm
> >normative, but just saying "The most commonly used algorithm is".
> 
> May be. Do you have a way to quantify this: number of usages, number
of
> applications, number of languages. This would be extermely helpful.
> 
> The most used way by users I see is common sense: not to call foreign
web
> sites you do not know the language.

I have no idea how many users make use of these features, but Web
browsers allow a user to specify their language preferences. (E.g. in
IE, the Languages button in the Tools > Internet Options dialog.) If
they specify language preferences this way, then their browser will be
trying to use this algorithm. I don't know how many HTTP servers are set
up properly to negotiate language prefereces this way, but I certainly
have  seen it working.

This is only vague quantification, but if many web browsers and HTTP
servers are set up for this functionality, then potentially there is a
very high usage rate for this algorithm.


Peter Constable