Re: [idn] UTF-8 / RACE

[Keith Moore <moore@cs.utk.edu>]

> And after you find that one client, explain to me why I should change my
> position regarding IE, given that IE is successfully putting out UTF-8
> characters today, there are providers compatible with this today, and that
> bringing the Internet to people sooner rather than later is important
> *today*. 

because even if IE is canonicalizing the naems before it sends them out,
there is no standard algorithm for doing so.  so MSIE as currently deployed
might do it differently than other applications.  and without such a 
canonicaliation step we have no way to ensure that the same name typed 
into different applications will look up the same records in the DNS.

small scale tests do not predict large scale behavior.  MSIE is just one
application, from a single vendor, and the tests you cite are for a single
language and a small number of information providers.    we need a solution
that will work for any application, any vendor, any of the world's commonly-
used languages, and any information providers who want to use it.

it's easy to provide an example of an IDN solution that works on a small scale 
today; several such examples exist.  It's much more difficult to make a 
convincing case that the solution will work on a large scale once it is deployed.

Keith