by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2012/02/21 07:11 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2012/02/21/10270502.aspx
Previous blogs from this series:
Remember that third rule I mentioned in Part 0?
I have neither inclination nor desire to violate either non-disclosure agreements or marketing news cycles related to Windows 8.
This last rule seems obvious, but I don't want anyone to misunderstand my intent here, or what I want to accomplish. Any time I talk about stuff you haven't heard before, it is only due the fact that they are doing other things right now, not because I am disclosing anything that you couldn't have found yourself by spelunking through the //Build Developer Preview, or eventually the Beta.
This blog you are reading today will in no way violate this rule!
Now of the many blogs above, for some it was Part 5 that was the most interesting.
Because it listed the locales that were scheduled to be added in Windows 8.
That list:
That list was for locales, not UI languages, as I said.
So it was nominally listing items that were to be added to Table 3 (Locales whose identifiers are not directly associated with any localizations of Windows, even if a related identifier might make for one representing a suitable localization) of The Locales of Windows 7, all divvied up.
As initially reported in the Building Windows 8 Blog a short time ago, in a blog entitled Using the Language You Want.
So I have bad news, worse news, and really good news!
The bad news will get you mad at me for over-promising and under-delivering. The worse news will get you mad at Microsoft for removing features. And the really good news will make you realize that I was just playing with your emotions!
The bad news: Many of those locales will not in fact be added to Table 3 (Locales whose identifiers are not directly associated with any localizations of Windows, even if a related identifier might make for one representing a suitable localization).
The worse news: Even some of the locales that used to be in Table 3 (Locales whose identifiers are not directly associated with any localizations of Windows, even if a related identifier might make for one representing a suitable localization). will be removed in Windows 8.
And the really good news: Every locale discussed earlier will actually be added to Table 2 (The locales representing languages for which Windows creates Language Interface Packs, aka LIPs) and occasionally even Table 1 (The locales representing languages into which Windows localizes) in Windows 8!
The official list of planned Windows 8 User Interface language additions:
I am going to pretend for a moment that is not amazing or incredible, okay?
Oh, screw that. I can't even pretend to be calm and dignified here.
This is amazing and in-freaking-credible!
In future blogs, I will dig in further to many of the exciting, interesting, and cool technical/linguistic/cultural issues that have come up here in the process of all of this very cool and interesting work.
And the awesome new story of Language Pack installation that finally fixes the problems some users have noticed since Windows 2000!
And the new UI paradigm!
Not to mention the coolness of an en-GB User Interface language in Windows 8 that is just begging to tell more!
Plus all of the other cool stuff the announcement over in the Building Windows 8 blog Using the Language You Want.
And all of the cool stuff about the Consumer Preview that you can try out yourself once you get your hands on it! :-)
But for now let me close with a personal note to Roy Bonny (ᎧᏂᎦ ᎪᎳᎭ) and Joseph Erb of Cherokee Nation: no more secrets, the President of Windows put the information into his Blog! :-)
Michael S. Kaplan on 21 Feb 2012 7:25 AM:
The comments on the SteveSi blog are already going strong, check them out if you're curious.
And feel free to post here if you are afraid of getting lost in the list, of course! :-)
John Cowan on 21 Feb 2012 8:56 AM:
Well, the Valencian localization was cheap enough to provide, I'm sure: just s/Catala/Valencia/ in suitable places!
Quppa on 22 Feb 2012 9:27 AM:
Great to see en-GB at last.
Can you share any information about the licensing story? Will display language switching still be limited to the high-end SKUs? The B8 post mentions selling en-GB as boxed software.
Michael S. Kaplan on 22 Feb 2012 9:33 AM:
There will be more, hang in there!
Quppa on 22 Feb 2012 10:16 AM:
I'm waiting patiently :)
I'd love to hear about the improvements to the Segoe UI font family in Windows 8. I noticed that the Light variant has been hinted at various sizes and that characters and glyphs have been added to all variants, particularly Segoe UI Symbol:
kamiljan on 5 Jun 2012 2:10 AM:
windows8 ning uyghur tilini qollighanliqiuyghurlar uchun nahayti ehmiyetlik bir ish mana bu uyghurche torni korup biqing
referenced by
2012/10/26 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 28: We finally fixed that 'Install New Languages' thing!
2012/10/02 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 27: No, the T and the H aren't silent...
2012/09/20 Those keys that are so hot -- which ones should they be?
2012/08/20 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 26: Hey Windows 8, there's someone on the phone for you.
2012/06/07 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 24: I Adar you! Hell, I Double Adar you! (Windows 8 ed.)
2012/06/05 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 23: Tamazight? Outta sight!
2012/04/12 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 22: Digit Substitution 2.0
2012/03/08 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 21: The Windows 8 Hijripalooza extraordinaire!
2012/03/07 And now? There are Language Packs!
2012/03/02 The evolving Story of Locale Support, part 20: Yes, it's Bangla. Not Bengali!
2012/02/23 It may be Inside Baseball, but I've never been so proud to Throw an Elbow as this time....