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May 2008 - Posts

WinZip, the [long awaited] Unicode edition!!!

I have talked about WinZip and Zip in the past, in particular their odd relationship with Unicode, in blogs like: Zipping up Unicode file names Unicode? Zip don't need no stinking Unicode! Sometimes, you have to keep it in ASCII Zipping up Unicode file Read More...
Posted Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 4 Comments

XKCD with A Better Idea

Randall Monroe over on xkcd has done it again.... In the words of Miss Stephanie H., there are no words . :-) Thanks for this one, Randall. YOMAK, big time! This blog brought to you by ䷗ ( U+4dd7 , aka HEXAGRAM FOR RETURN) Read More...
Posted Tuesday, May 13, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments
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What happens when you involve an unenabled Uniscribe with vertical text, given that Uniscribe doesn't handle vertical text?

So I got email from a developer colleague the other day. It was that same developer who had previously impressed me -- as described in Expertise isn't always everything (aka When the one who is learning teaches us something important) -- and kept me from Read More...
Posted Monday, May 12, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

İn tıtlıng thıs ınclusıon ın re: the ınterests of Turkısh İSVs, am İ just tryıng to buıld İ's and ı's ınto the tıtle of thıs daıly contrıbutıon to SİAO (SıaO), amıgo?

It is a commonly reported issue in Windows and many components that run upon it, a recent one can be seen on the Connect site, here : Description : There is a conversion problem in the c/c++ runtime library. Turkish characters ı/I and i/İ are converted Read More...
Posted Monday, May 12, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

The vector of this spam is [apparently] indeterminate

I have talked in the past about my feelings regarding the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER in blogs such as The torrents of U+fffd (aka When security and conformance trump compatibility and reality) . And I have even mentioned in the A less intelligent strain of Read More...
Posted Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:01 PM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

On the popularity of Unicode: percentages are not raw numbers

There has been a lot of recent buzz based on the Moving to Unicode 5.1 post in the googleblog written by Mark Davis. Enough that people keep sending me email asking if I had seen it, much of that traffic being there because I haven't blogged about it Read More...
Posted Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

Why Bengali keyboards can't be found on XP 64 bit

One of the interesting benefits of reading this blog is that it can provide answers to questions that you run across later. For example, I got mail the other day that was forwarding a question from someone: A friend was happily using the Bengali language Read More...
Posted Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:01 PM by Michael S. Kaplan | 1 Comments

Whither disability discrimination?

In my blog Disabilities in the workplace , Mary suggested in the comments: I'd like to see a discussion for those of us with non-mobility disabilities. How about mild autism? Just try and get through the first 5 minutes of an interview and make a positive Read More...
Posted Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 1 Comments
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It is okay to not be in favor of termination

No, this is not a post about abortion. I am talking about NULL termination, a way to end strings that is legal in all fifty states and that is widely used by software that is in regular use by people all over the world irregardless of their views about Read More...
Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 11:36 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments
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The etymology of the Homo-Sus hypothesis

Nothing technical whatsoever folks; if this bothers you then please just get over it or go away! :-) I have been in the habit lately of talking women out of the idea of having a relationship with me. I know how that sounds, and I took the time to record Read More...
Posted Friday, May 09, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 9 Comments
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In hindsight, they may have BEST FIT these files where the sun never shines

Recently while paying attention to The Unicode List I was once again reminded why I don't pay more attention to The Unicode List . :-) Specifically it was a thread started by Andreas Prilop: I refer to http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/ISO8859/8859-1.TXT Read More...
Posted Thursday, May 08, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

Support of Holi^h^h^^hDAZE, in Outlook (aka Situations when competition might help customers)

Before I forget, here is what the top of the day looks like in Outlook right now: Now I am not going to try and tell anyone that holidays are easy. Because they aren't. And anyone who tries to tell you that they are is probably trying to sell you something. Read More...
Posted Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

Four exceptions to prove the rule

As a general rule, once a sort has been added to Windows, it cannot ever be removed. But you have probably heard the expression that every rule has an exception, right? Well this rule is so freaking important that it has four exceptions! They are: #1: Read More...
Posted Wednesday, May 07, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

25 years at Microsoft? Amazing, I tell you!

I found 25 to be the last birthday I actually look forward to. I think that is to do with my cynical nature -- I mean at 16 you can get your license 1 , at 18 you can vote or enlist 2 , at 21 you can drink 3 . And at 25 I could finally afford my auto Read More...
Posted Wednesday, May 07, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

By some accounts, the names can be changed

At the risk of repeating myself, I find that once again I quote a particular releveant bit from Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams, just as I did here and here : Ford Prefect hit the ground running. The ground was about three inches farther from the ventilation Read More...
Posted Tuesday, May 06, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

Su-sumimasen-ssudio for the invite snafu

The title of this post is an irreverent combination of a Japanese "mea culpa" type word meant to convey respect while asking for forgiveness with a truly awful Phil Collins song that is not IMNSHO terribly deserving of respect (though one that the sentiment Read More...
Posted Tuesday, May 06, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments
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Note to Outlook: Koninginnedag isn't the reigning Queen's Birthday

The other day in Was last night Walpurgis [Night|Eve] or May Day Eve? , I showed the following picture of my Outlook calendar: and specifically mentioned how I was going to have us leave the Queen aside for the moment. Reader Bart Samwel commented on Read More...
Posted Monday, May 05, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 6 Comments

2004: On not being a viable test subject

Nothing technical in this one -- it is just one of those historical Multiple Sclerosis blogs.... I was recently asked if I had ever been involved in any multiple sclerosis studies. Funny someone would ask that.... A few years back I tried to get it on Read More...
Posted Monday, May 05, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments
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Sparrows' tears? Perhaps. But never a teardrop on the fire...

Very non-technical, you should probably skip, yada yada yada.... I went out last night and actually managed to run into Claire (yes, the Claire from this blog) and her friend Trisha (who I had also met). A reunion of sorts, I suppose. :-) It was a minor Read More...
Posted Sunday, May 04, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 4 Comments
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Who bells the cat when it comes to glyph substitution?

Over in the Suggestion Box, AJB asked: I am curious about the division of labor between Uniscribe (or any other rendering\layout engine) and the OpenType font, with regards to glyph substitution. I've been poking around parsing the OpenType font data Read More...
Posted Sunday, May 04, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

The Matzoh and the Eucharist (for the gluten intolerant)

I had a regular reader ask me via the Contact link: I have a gluten intolerance and a fiancé who is Jewish (we are getting married on the end of the summer). I managed to avoid passover this year because I was traveling for work, but by next year I'll Read More...
Posted Saturday, May 03, 2008 8:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments
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Please Look before you Leap a second

I am going to talk about Leap Seconds for a bit. I'll explain why I am doing so after I blather for a bit. Leap seconds are essentially a force of correction between two different philosophies of time measurement that are fundamentally different, with Read More...
Posted Saturday, May 03, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

More things that don't work for locales in the CRT

They say that you could put just the word Playboy or Hugh Hefner or a picture of the Playboy Bunny on an envelope and if the postage is right then it will make its way to the mansion. It is funny to imagine that kind of fuzzy matching at work, and not Read More...
Posted Friday, May 02, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 3 Comments

That non-character can be the BOM at the right kind of party

The question from Vikash was: Hi, I am using CreateFile API to generate a Unicode file I have added the Unicode flags in my sources file and the file that is generated is also in Unicode format except for the first two bytes which do not have 0xFEFF However Read More...
Posted Friday, May 02, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 0 Comments

The font folder, like the party, never seems to get smaller

Alvin asked (in the Suggestion Box after reading this blog that listed the fonts in Vista): ...could you suggest a list of fonts that can be safely removed in Windows Vista? Or in other words, what are the system fonts in Windows vista that cannot be Read More...
Posted Thursday, May 01, 2008 7:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 2 Comments

Was last night Walpurgis [Night|Eve] or May Day Eve?

Yesterday in Outlook, the holiday story was an interesting one: We'll leave the Queen aside for a moment. :-) The other two holidays put me in mind of a book -- Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park , which had the following in it: "...Now you must excuse me; Read More...
Posted Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:01 AM by Michael S. Kaplan | 14 Comments
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