[Ilugc] TUNE -- Tamil Unicode, New... RFC launch in Chennai on Aug 10, 2005
- From: mugunth@xxxxxxxxx (Mugunth Raj)
- Date: Wed Aug 10 19:42:46 2005
Thanks for the info. I attended the meeting and it turned out to be
very informative. This was the official meeting where TUNE - Tamil Unicode
New,
RFC was launched. The rationale for a new standard was explained very
articulately by a Prof. Krishnamoorthy from Crescent college - he
explained how current efforts try to shoehorn Tamil into a design by committee
standards, and why that doesn't work well. A "free as in Rasna" CD
containing documentation, fonts, sample files, etc was given to the
participants. The CD included OpenOffice for Windows and Mac, but not Linux.
The TUNE folks are looking for volunteer testers and have estimated the
initial testing period to hundred days. They have also set up a Yahoo
groups where TUNE can be discussed.
TUNE essentially is a thumbs down to efforts like the current Tamil
Unicode, and ISCII where little input was taken from folks actually
knowledgeable in Tamil or the
nuances of the language, and is a total home grown effort from folks at
TVU (Tamil Virtual University) and Kanithamizh Sangam.
Dear Ramaswamy,
Is there any open website where information related to this TUNE is
available. (not closed yahoogroups ).
IMHO , The current tamil unicode is working well and there is no need
for any new encoding.
This TUNE effort should not be encouraged. This will only bring down
the current momentum of tamil computing works drastically.
If we look back, some of the current members of Kanithamiz Sangam were
responsible for creating alternate encodings in the year 1999 called
TAM & TAB.
It should be noted, TSCII was in use much earlier (i think from 1998 onwards).
TSCII was a discussed in openforum (hosted by tamil.net those days)
for nearly a year and formed as a open 8-bit standard.
But some of the Commercial Tamil software Vendors based in Tamil Nadu
with the help of then DMK government created & announced TAB/TAM. It
should be noted, this TAB/TAM efforts were not open and were formed
without taking into consideration TSCII - the open 8-bit Tamil
standard available in those days.
TAB/TAM efforts almost killed the momemtum of tamil computing in those
TSCII days by creating confusion among the developers.
Nowadays only Tamil Nadu Govt websites are having TAB/TAM encoding. It
doesnt enjoy much support among users and Developers.
I find similar thing is going to happen now...
Now we have a working Tamil unicode encoding.
And tamil unicode is gaining acceptance among the tamil computer users
, developers, Major Software Vendors & Freesoftware community.
At this critical moment, there is absolutely no need for any new Tamil
UNICODE encoding.
Only few in the Tamil Nadu - ** that too mostly Comercial Tamil
software vendors** under Kanithamizh sangam, are attempting to create
an alternate tamil New encoding with the help of govt agencies.
Current unicode DOES NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEM, This new Tamil unicode
encoding by commercial software vendors , should be prevented at any
cost.
[
For more info abt TSCII Refer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSCII
http://www.tamil.net/tscii/
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5180/tscii.html
]
Regards,
Mugunth
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