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December 2007 - Posts

I am not Michael

How many people think Michael should remember to log off of blogs.msdn.com from machines he lets his good friends use, even if they are running Panther Leopard and have no access to secret Microsoft information? :-) Assuming he keeps his word and doesn't Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 30, 2007 2:00 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 17 Comments

Taking the long weekend off....

After having been stuck at home all exacerbated for much of my end of the year vacation , I feel like I deserve a little time off. So I am going to take it. :-) I'll be visiting with an old friend and I'll be back in time for work next week. I will not Read More...
Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 11:05 PM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

A meaningful (and dare I say radical) usage of the essentially meaningless (dingbatesque) members of the RADICAL blocks

Regular readers may have noticed that I have often used the CJK Radicals and the KangXi Radicals as sponsors to various blogs. The other day, Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven and John H. Jenkins were talking about the radicals (well, Jeroen was explaining Read More...
Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

Getting grouping's number right...

Developer Amy asked: Hi I need to display number with the setting in Regional Options on Digital grouping symbol and Digital grouping I tried using VarBstrFromR8 and passing LOCALE_NOUSEROVERRIDE to dwFlags but it doesn’t seem to do the trick. Any hint? Read More...
Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

No upproblems with $UpCase when you do a upVista upgrade

One of the interesting consequences I have noted when it comes to dealing with having a Blog with >2200 blogs in it, such as what happens when somebody comes across the Blog as it is and start randomly reading posts from it. When combined with the Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 27, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 11 Comments

Even The O.C. reruns have jumped the shark, for me (and I blame this on SoapNet)

If you have never seen The O.C. then this post will be entirely useless to you.... So yesterday was one of those weird days, when SoapNet decided to show the series finale of The O.C. ( The End's Not Near, It's Here ) at 3pm and the series pilot at 4pm. Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 27, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments
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Looking for the Big O, not just some TT's

The question over on the OpenType list was: Dear All, I've been developing my first Opentype Font lately. It is an Arabic Naskh style font that is fully compliant with the rules of Naskh Calligraphy. So Far, things have been going quite well. The only Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments
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All is well, remain calm, there is no need to panic, but...

WARNING : Be sure to read the disclaimer at the bottom of this blog before you take your eyes off the screen. In the movie Conspiracy Theory , Mel Gibson's character (Jerry) is programmed (Manchurian Candidate style) to buy a copy of J.D. Salinger's The Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

While vacationing, idle random thoughts on the potential influence of Unicode on 'alphabet soup'

If you are easily offended then please stop reading now.... I talk a lot. And people who know me will verify this. In fact, there are only four things I know of that will [ever] shut me up: When I am asleep (and then I might snore; luckily I don't tend Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 14 Comments

Muliple Sclerosis -- let's talk about sex (well, gender anyway)

It wouldn't be Christmas without a Salt-N-Pepa reference, would it? This blog is not about sexual dysfunction as a symptom of multiple sclerosis, it is about the relationship between gender and incidence of MS... It is widely reported (and has been almost Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments
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VS just got served!, aka The ??? Shift, aka 'Converting a project to Unicode???' No, it's 'Converting a project??? ToUnicode!!!'

Regular readers might remember my whole Converting a project to Unicode series in nine parts: Part 0 (The introduction) Part 1 (Business before pleasure) Part 2 ('Sorry, you're not my type.' 'Um, maybe I could change that?) Part 3 (Can I quote you on Read More...
Posted Monday, December 24, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 1 Comments

The 9.0 instructions for building MFC and the CRT to use MSLU?

Now if you look over on the side of the blog, you will see an expandable group entitled Rebuilding MFC and the CRT with MSLU, with links under it for MFC/CRT 6.0 , MFC/CRT 7.0 , MFC/CRT 7.1 , and MFC/CRT 8.0 . Now that Visual Studio 2008 (aka "Orcas") Read More...
Posted Monday, December 24, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

How many ways can a developer say 'File Not Found?' (aka Making your localizer's life easier, Part 1)

The first in what might be a large series of blogs in this Blog.... Conventional wisdom from those enlightened in the ways of writing localizable applications suggests that developers should do their best to avoid reusing strings in different contexts Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 23, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

Now experiencing what is *almost* a pleasant exacerbation

It was something I hinted at the other day in Shticks and stones , for the record I'll now say that I am indeed having illness-inspired acute multiple sclerosis exacerbation. Some visual symptoms (OD aka left eye only), some weakness in my left leg with Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 23, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 9 Comments
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Incomplete Scenarios: They don't know everything that's up with number sorting

In just a few weeks from now, it will have been three years since I first wrote about What is up with number sorting? . Since then, that SHLWAPI function StrCmpLogicalW has come up a few other times, like in: What would it mean to internationalize StrCmpLogicalW? Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 4 Comments

CultureInfo subsetting attempts that suck

When you think about locales (or make that cultures for those of you who are into managed code), you are basically looking at, for lack of a better bit of terminology, buckets of information. Buckets that vary according to language or region or dialect Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

It's still not a Freedom Tree -- and it's AD, fercryingoutloud!

There are many things that I am thankful for. When it comes to Unicode,one of them is the simple fact that the CLDR (Common Locale Data Repository) is managed by a separate technical committee, not by the UTC within Unicode, as well as its own mailing Read More...
Posted Friday, December 21, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

Shticks and stones

In memory of Allen Sherman.... A bit of track maintenance. I did get some sleep last night -- so that long streak of no sleep is officially over. It was not a ton of sleep, but my usual amount, at least. In other news, regular reader and my window into Read More...
Posted Friday, December 21, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments
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I'd be up anyway, I guess?

I don't think my body is used to vacations. It has been a few days now, and I just haven't been tired. It's not like I am doing much (just reading, watching movies, catching up on other people's blogs, browsing the web, etc.) but it just occurred to me Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:20 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 1 Comments
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Unicode announces a new membership level for students

Recent announcement over on the Unicode List and other places: To better support students with an interest in internationalization, localization, and the support of natural languages in software, the Unicode Consortium introduced a new level of membership Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

'Full-featured' - globalization support = not so full-featured, in my book

So, the other day, someone was asking for a TextBox that would better support decimal or currency values: What he want is a simple control to allow him to enter decimal or currency values. He would prefer behavior that looks a lot more like a standard Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

NO doesn't mean maybe, and it certainly doesn't means NB!

I was going to run the title by some people since it seems like it might be mildly offensive, though one of the side effects of my little Cerebus-esque 1 vacation is that I couldn't bounce it off anyone. So if you are offended then I apologize as it seems Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 19, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 1 Comments

An Encoding.DisplayName property would have made way too much sense

Sometimes when dealing with internationalization issues, questions come in where it is clear that person is confused about the results being observed. Now it is true that in some cases the confusion is entirely on their side and it is just a matter of Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 19, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

If a tree is transparent about falling in the woods but no one other than Christina Pickles hears it, will it make a sound if it bops you on the head?

Apologies for the mixed metaphors in the title. It seemed much more clever and catchy in my head but I couldn't seem to recapture the words! A while back on Friends (the episode The One Where Ross Got High ) the following exchange took place: Ross: Mom, Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 5 Comments

Of as little account as sparrows' tears

Nothing technical, but since I am on vacation I feel quite comfortable with that.... Sometimes, even being sure that a fact is entirely false doesn't keep you from being able to make use of that fact when it seems relevant. I'll explain by way of an example, Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments
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What's the difference between running a localized version of Windows and running Windows with that user interface language?

A very common question I get (and which I have received several times by different people over the last few weeks via the Contact link -- from Deborah, Kurt, and Phil!) is: What's the difference between running a localized version of Windows and running Read More...
Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

No good way to get one's Jalalis playing with calendars in Windows or .NET, really

The question I received via the Contact link was: Dear Michael, we have a huge issues with Persian (Jalali) Calendar on WSS 3.0. We will appreciate if you can provide us with your input in this regard. it looks all Microsoft applications are getting the Read More...
Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

How best to keep the font switcheroo from happening?

Another recent mail coming to me via the Contact link: Suppose i create my LOGFONT structure with a fontname(say 'Arial') with style Italic/Bold set.In this case,i do have "Arial Bold Italic(True Type)" in my window's font's folder so i should effectively Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 16, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

Why my IUC31 talks were presented on Vista (even though running on a MacBook Pro)

Back in the end of September after I posted What's Mac 2008 got, you wonder? , I realized that I may have a few more readers than I realized when several people sent me the information of how I could get the beta. Very heartwarming, actually. It is always Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 16, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 10 Comments

On doing the gimp thing with no wingman^H^H^Hperson

It had been a little while since I had been out over the weekend. So when I was asked, I figured what the hell. Have you ever seen The Matrix? The first one? There is a scene near the beginning just after Neo decides to follow the white rabbit. He is Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 16, 2007 1:48 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

Computer keyboards: before ALT, before ALTGR, before CAPS LOCK, there was... ALPHA LOCK!

From my Osborne 1 keyboard: Just to the right of the CTRL key and to the left of the A key, the ALPHA LOCK key is there to do exactly what many people want out of their keyboards. :-) This post brought to you by A ( U+0041 , aka LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 15, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments
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Giving myself a break

I have some vacation hours that I could end of forfeiting if I don't take them before the year ends. Now between that and the holidays and the three days off that Julie gave us all anyway, I think it looks like I should be taking most of the rest of the Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 15, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments
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30-40 times more likely to pass MS on to the next generation

Not about a familial legacy of working for Microsoft, this is a 100% Multiple Sclerosis post with nothing from an internationalization perspective, technical or otherwise.... I have really been following the whole HealthTalk series for Multiple Sclerosis Read More...
Posted Friday, December 14, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 4 Comments
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Amharic's on the phone, you want I should take a message?

The mail I got yesterday pointed out an interesting article: The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt reports from Addis Ababa on the increasing popularity of mobile phones which permit text messages in Amharic. Ethiopians get texting in Amharic The article is interesting Read More...
Posted Friday, December 14, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 5 Comments

If you play with your gadget, there are all kinds of problems you can run into

I am not talking about going blind or hair on your palms, either. I'm talking about internationalization issues. Get your mind out of the gutter! It started when I realized I hadn't played with my gadgets for a while. I decided to see what was in the Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

About the Fonts folder in Windows, Part 4 (Eto Akta Gamat, aka Magical Protection?)

Recently, Tony read About the Fonts folder in Windows, Part 3 (aka What changes in Vista?) that was posted last year and commented : Hm, the Fonts folder has changed drastically in Vista. I'm one of the people trying to install Office 97 SP2b and getting Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

ISNUMERIC ISSTUPID (and ISGONNAGETITSASSKICKED if it isn't careful)

I had a regular 1 reader the other day tell me that I needed to stop writing about SQL Server so much. Since this person is on the SQL Server team, there is probably some subtext here that I am missing. But I think this is the last one I have on tap for Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 8 Comments

SiaO as The Red Carpet (aka Characters just want to be seen)

Over in the Suggestion Box, Doug asks: Hi Michael, Your posts include a "This post brought to you by" character at the bottom of the post. Often the characters are displayed, but sometimes they just show as a rectangle. For example U+267f on a recent Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 10 Comments

How to get yourself imprisoned [by/for talking about Unicode]

My friend Liz was heading to Alaska on Sunday morning and she ended up with something of a layover in Seattle. I suspect she just missed me, since it seems like there are flights to various pieces of Alaska every 7.5 minutes, even on Sunday. :-) But these Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 11, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

In SQL Server, there is the rest of Unicode (aka the SiaO Incompleteness Theorem)

Previously in this series, I have talked about many things. Like how the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think . how A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing , how the wrong range can make you seem insensitive to one's width! Read More...
Posted Tuesday, December 11, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

MUI is like your heartbeat; it's important and useful, whether you know about it or not

In response to the blog post from guest blogger Erik Fortune entitled There is no E in MUI, even if you pronounce it MOO-EE , regular reader Cristian Secară commented : To whom is addressed that tutorial ? The sense of the above post is like "we, Microsoft, Read More...
Posted Monday, December 10, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

In SQL Server, different collations implies different ranges (aka Not every table has its THORN)

Previous posts in this series: In SQL Server, the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think In SQL Server, A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing In SQL Server, the wrong range can make you seem insensitive to one's width! (aka Read More...
Posted Monday, December 10, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

আজ রাত অন্নো কোন রাতের থেকে আলদা কেন?

So the question seems simple enough, whether it is asked in Hebrew: מה נשתנה הלילה הזה מכל הלילות‏‏ ? ‏ Or Tamil: இன்றிரவுக்கும் மற்றிரவுகளுக்கும் என்ன வித்தியாசம்? Or Bengali: আজ রাত অন্নো কোন রাতের থেকে আলদা কেন ? Or Klingon: qatlh pImlaw' ramvam rammey Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 17 Comments

In SQL Server, the alphabet does not end at Z!

Previous posts in this series: In SQL Server, the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think In SQL Server, A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing In SQL Server, the wrong range can make you seem insensitive to one's width! (aka Read More...
Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 1:11 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

Social engineering in Windows Explorer....

Regular reader Jan Kučera suggested in response to In Case you have problems that you might think are ǸȦȘȚȲ in a comment : Although this scenario might seem quite NASTY, why does Vista the same thing when copying folders/files beginning/ending with space? Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 08, 2007 2:31 PM by Michael S. Kaplan | 18 Comments

In SQL Server, your ranges also need to ACCENT-uate the positives!

You might have started to sense a pattern developing here with the last few posts in this series: In SQL Server, the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think In SQL Server, A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing In SQL Server, Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 08, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

Thinking outside my comfort zone [occasionally, for a maximum of up to 14 minutes, 53 seconds a day]

I am begging you to skip this post. Please skip it, these is nothing worthwhile in it and I actually use a curse word or two. It isn't wiorth the time. You know, I get the impression that you aren't listening to me here. We should talk later about the Read More...
Posted Saturday, December 08, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments
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When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give the mommy a special gift. So he buys a 'stay-at-home' server.

I'm usually not one to jump on trends -- in computers, in music, in anything really. That's why I don't have an iPod, and why my Zune is the color least likely to ever be considered cool. It also has a lot to do with what I write here. At times I have Read More...
Posted Friday, December 07, 2007 10:46 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

In SQL Server, the wrong range can make you seem insensitive to one's width! (aka Do my V's look fat?)

Previously I wrote about how In SQL Server, the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think , and I followed up the next day with In SQL Server, A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing . Now that first post reminded you of the over Read More...
Posted Friday, December 07, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 4 Comments

If it isn't really Tibetan, could it pinch hit for Burmese?

After I posted Every character has a story #29: U+1000^H^H^H^H0f40, (TIBETAN or MYANMAR LETTER KA, depending on when you ask) , I had developer Dana ask me via email: It looks like there was unintentional support for Myanmar in those earlier versions Read More...
Posted Friday, December 07, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

In SQL Server, A-Z, A-z, a-Z, and a-z may not mean the same thing!

Yesterday, I was blathering about how In SQL Server, the distance between A and Z is wider than you might think . So now let's add case sensitivity to the mix, which is a great way to find problems, as I pointed out in If you are more sensitive, you'll Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 06, 2007 7:16 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 9 Comments

The subliminal message: 'My search is more testosterone-laced than yours!'

So last night at 7:59pm I posted A Strange and Sublime HASANT and a ways down the page I put in a nonexistent Bengali word, made by adding a HASANT (aka Virama, aka hôshonto) to an otherwise valid Bengali word whose final vowel is not there despite lacking Read More...
Posted Thursday, December 06, 2007 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 8 Comments

A Strange and Sublime HASANT

Now as I said in Learning to spell in Bengali (when one doesn't know the language) -- admitting I said many different things in that post -- I wanted to get a copy of that book by Amit Chaudhuri. It arrived yesterday (actually a collection of three of Read More...
Posted Wednesday, December 05, 2007 7:59 PM by Michael S. Kaplan | 21 Comments
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