Subject: Re: Classification and Techniques of Chinese Character System on DOS

From: "~{QG9p~}" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1993 12:05:11 -0500

Thanks to Mr. Xu Yueheng for the very informative article posted
to CCNET.

I just have two points to raised concerning ZWDOS.

(1) The HZ Chinese code used in ZWDOS and other software packages
is not really a new standard. It differs from CCDOS in the way
it distinguishes Chinese codes and ASCII codes, but the Chinese
code used in HZ and ZWDOS is exactly GB2312.

(2) ZWDOS is not just BIOS compatible with MSDOS. It also allows
direct access to the text mode video buffer. This is essential
since most MSDOS application programs writes directly to the
video buffer. Since this is a software implementation the scrolling
speed will not be as good as ASCII scrolling (on Hercules video
cards the scrolling speed is comparable to ASCII though), but
it is video direct access-compatible with MSDOS programs.

Finally, I am a little curious about how the government controls
what type of system is sold on the market. I read on People's Daily
about the ban on non-standard systems, and now I hear it from
Mr. Xu again.  Mr. Xu also says this ban is "by law".  Does Mr.
Xu has more detail about this?  Which Chinese law is being applied
to this ban, specifically? and How?  Does this ban apply only to
Chinese character coding, or does it apply to other technologies and
products as well?  (I can't imagine a law is written to single
out the character coding standard for protection.)

I think it is not wise to enforce official standards by law.
It can only inhibit technological advancement and market competition.
It takes time for a standard to be formulated and adopted, which
means it is impossible for a standard to include the latest
technological advances and innovations. I can understand the
desire to have systems being compatible with each others, but
there are other better ways of achieving this, inhibiting
innovation is too high a price to pay for compatibility.

  Ya-Gui Wei