Re: Windows NT

[Carl Distefano CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx]

Forwarding note from Nathan Sivin 
 Fri, 24 Dec 1999 09:02:59 -0500

Since Carl mentioned Windows 2000, I thought this, from a friend
who has used the beta, might interest some, esp. those involved
in foreign-language input. It suggests that 2000 will make Asian
language input programs, not to mention NB Lingua, obsolete:

≪I have used NT for a while and like it, because it is Unicode-
based. Characters will just show up in applications as long as
their font is available on the system. There is supposed to be a
version of TB for NT, but you have to pay for it, as always. You
might consider Unionway, which is free for the download, works fine
with NT, and has a reputable Japanese front end built in, as well.
Since the only problem is input, there are also slew of pinyin front
ends available from Taiwan. If you still have something like Hanyin
floating around from teh pre-TB days, it will still work.

  There is a Global IME that you can download from Microsoft that
permits input in Japanese or Chinese. It works in Internet Explorer
and Outlook Express, so it is fine for web doings. I find it also
works in Word 2000 and the entire Office 2000 suite.  The problem
here is that you have pinyin input only for simplified Chinese and
bopomofo or Cangjie for traditional. You do get a decent font with
it. Again, the Taiwanese front ends solve the problem.

  I plan to move rather quickly into Win 2000. It has a front end
for about every script in current use (including right-left
languages like Hebrew and Arabic). There the pinyin input offers a
choice between simplified and traditional characters. I have a beta
version (release candidate 2) set up on three computers at school.
It is a memory hog (realistically, you need 128 MB to run it plus
applications) but otherwise shows promise of being as stable as NT
4. I have an immediate impetus to do this because NT 4 does not
support USB ports or DVD drives and I will be acquiring USB
peripherals (a slide scanner) in the near future. With a
reasonable-sized hard drive, it is quite possible to install both NT
4 and 2000 on different partitions and dual boot, in case you run
into problems. NT can do the partitioning without destroying data
and handle the boot-up menu. New computers from Dell and Micron
come with upgrade coupons for Win 2000 and the computer people at
Penn should be willing to lend you a beta copy until February. I
would be reluctant to pay TB another $100 or more at this point.
Frankly, I think 2000 will drive them out of business. On the other
hand, they realize this and are starting to package other goodies,
including a Chinese OCR program with TB, if you have use for such a
thing.≫

Cheers,
--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-7454
nsivin@xxxxxxxx