Unicode and Windows XP

1. Cathy Wissink Program Manager Globalization Infrastructure and Font Technology Windows International Microsoft Unicode and Windows XP

2. Agenda • Brief Overview of Approach and History • International Functionality on Windows • What’s Different in Recent Releases? • What’s Next? • Conclusions and Resources Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

3. Approach and History

4. What is “Windows”, anyhow? “Longhorn” WindowsXP/Server 2003 Windows 2000 WindowsME Windows NT 4 Windows 98 Win NT 3.5, 3.1 Windows 95 “Win NT” “Win 9x” Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

5. Our Approach • Include full Unicode support from onset • Leverage Uniscribe, OpenType, NLS • Migrate towards a single worldwide source (reached in Windows 2000) • Develop and refine Multilingual User Interface functionality • Continue to add new international functionality within system releases and in out-of-band releases Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

6. Our History (or: Well, how did we get here?) • Genesis of NT (1991): Go with Unicode! • NT 4.0 (1996): many Unicode components, but still strong code page dependency • NT 5.0, renamed Windows 2000 (2000): single worldwide source • Windows XP (2001): merge of the NT international functionality with the consumer experience of Windows 95/98/ME • Windows Server 2003 (2003): further refinement Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

7. NLS (National Language Support), including the locale model Uniscribe (including OpenType) Input: Windows Text Services Framework and MS Keyboard Layout Creator MUI (Multilingual User Interface Pack for Windows) and LIP (Language Interface Pack) International Functionality Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

8. National Language Support NLS provides the information that supports culturally appropriate behavior: • Sorting and casing • Formatting (dates, times, currency, numbers) • Conversions (normalization, character encodings) • Other (calendars, native digits) Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

9. National Language Support, cont. NLS data for a particular culture grouped into a locale (generally, a country + language combination). There were different types of “locales” on Windows 2000, which were renamed for Windows XP and beyond (as seen in Regional Options)… Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

10. Windows 2000 “User locale” (cultural conventions and data) “Input locale” (keyboards and IMEs) “System locale” (code page conversions) Windows XP + Server 2003 “Standards and Formats” “Input Language and Method” “Language for non-Unicode Programs” Locales Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

11. Uniscribe The technology used to handle the layout, rendering and editing of complex scripts Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

12. Examples of Complex Scripts Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

13. Some of the text issues handled by Uniscribe • Word breaking (Thai) • Bi-directional text (Hebrew, Arabic) • Multiple diacritics on a base character (Vietnamese) • Contextual shaping (Indic, Arabic) • Illegal character combination filtering (Thai) Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

14. Input • Windows Text Services Framework: • Introduced with Windows XP • Extends input methods to include natural language recognition (speech, handwriting) • Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator: • Allows users to modify existing keyboards or create new keyboards for NT-based systems Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

15. MUI • Short for Multilingual User Interface • MUI changes language of the system’s menus, dialogs and Help files into one of 33 different languages (for XP) • Server is available in 18 languages • Available as add-on pack for Windows XP Professional (Multilingual User Interface Pack) • LIPs (Language Interface Packs) are a new part of MUI initiative Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

16. MUI, continued • MUI built by copying resources from localized versions • Testers check for same issues as for localized versions • Resource loader checks user’s UI language setting to load the appropriate resources Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

17. MUI vs. other international functionality • MUI (and LIPs) • change the user’s UI language • only available as add-on pack to the English version of Windows XP • All other international functionality • impacts language content and formatting • available on all versions of Windows XP Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

18. What’s new for Windows XP (and Windows Server 2003)?

19. NLS: Windows XP • 9 new locales + invariant locale; 136 locales total • Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Kyrgyz, Mongolian (Cyrillic), Galician, Divehi and Syriac • Old Hangul sorting • GB18030 encoding • New location (“Geo”) APIs • Overhaul of Regional Options Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

20. Regional Options Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

21. NLS: Windows Server 2003 • Same data as Windows XP • Update to Farsi sorting (parity bug on XP) • New APIs • IsNLSDefinedString • GetNLSVersion Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

22. NLS: Out of Band Release • Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator • Now in public beta • Allows users to modify existing keyboards or create new keyboards for NT-based systems • Will be freely available to the public later this spring; distribution and date to be determined Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

23. Uniscribe • New script support • Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Telugu, Divehi, and Syriac • Improvements to resolution, layout and formatting made possible by GDI+ • Default system installation of Uniscribe • Improved font fallback support Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

24. MUI: XP • XP: Closer parity to 100% localized builds: • UI strings removed from registry and kernel • Improvements to Shell, Desktop and Console resource handling • Help files enabled for UI language switching Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

25. MUI: beyond XP RTM and Server • Separate MUI pack for .NET Server • Improvements to setup and deployment • Windows XP SP1 (US) can be installed on MUI machines • Windows 2000 MUI languages now supported with Terminal Server Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

26. LIPs • Language Interface Packs • Developed for markets where the cost of localization was prohibitive relative to revenues • Localize 20% of the UI used 80% of the time • Desktop (Start, WinExplorer, Control Panel) • Components (IE, OE, Media Player) • Other (Task Manger, ProgMan, Games) • Help slightly different Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

27. If you take away just one thought from this talk… As a result of pervasive Unicode support built into Windows XP, international functionality (except MUI/LIPs) is available on all versions This includes: • Localized versions • MUI version • Base (English) version Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

28. What’s coming?

29. Looking to the future… • MUI: continued improvements, more LIPs • Continuing research for new languages and cultures • Marry MUI and localization? • Eventual goal: “English is just another language” Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)

30. Resources • Windows Global Development Website http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/ mailto:gdhelp@microsoft.com (Global Dev Help) mailto:drintl@microsoft.com (Dr. International) • Developing International Software, version 2—now available in hard copy (ISBN: 0735615837) • Microsoft Typography Website (OpenType, Uniscribe) http://www.microsoft.com/typography Unicode and Windows XP, IUC 23 (Prague, Czech Republic)