Subject: FYI: Font Driver for CW 3.0

From: Youren Guo <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 17:19:50 -0600

The following info is forwarded from clari.nb.ibm (without permission).
Just for your info.     --Youren ([email-masked])
========================================================================
WAN CHAI, HONG KONG, 1992 NOV 25 (NB) -- CompuFont Ltd, a
Microsoft technology partner, has introduced an enhanced font
driver for Microsoft Chinese Windows version 3.0.  The new
CWIN 3.0 Simplified Chinese Enabler supports the simplified
character set used in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as well
as the traditional Chinese character set used in Hong Kong and
Taiwan.

The scalable Chinese font technology incorporated in Chinese
Windows 3.0 was developed for Microsoft by CompuFont and
supports the 13,053 characters of Taiwan's Big Five standard.

The CWIN 3.0 Simplified Chinese Enabler works in the same way
as the original font driver but also includes the 6,732 characters
that comprise the PRC's National Standard GB2312-80, with an
additional 162 traditional characters that are commonly used
in Hong Kong.

"We developed Chinese Windows for the Taiwan market where
it has enjoyed considerable success since its introduction last
year," said Laurie Kan, country manager of Microsoft Hong
Kong Ltd.

"Here in Hong Kong, Chinese language requirements are a little
different. As in Taiwan, everybody uses traditional characters,
but with our strong business links with the PRC there is also
demand for a system that can also support simplified characters.
CompuFont's new font driver is therefore a very valuable addition
to the Microsoft Chinese Windows environment that we fully
endorse," said Kan.

According to Lawrence Mo, managing director of CompuFont Ltd,
there are a number of DOS-based Chinese character processing
packages that can handle both character sets but CWIN 3.0
Simplified Chinese Enabler is the first product enabling
Microsoft's Traditional Windows 3.0 system to accomplish this.

"We have been able to take advantage of the fact that Windows is a
very modular software architecture to ensure that the Simplified
Chinese Enabler will work seamlessly with all existing Chinese
Windows applications, such as Excel and Word for Windows," said
Mo.

Once installed, the new font driver replicates all the functions of
the standard Chinese Windows font driver, scaling characters on
screen and as output on laser and dot-matrix printers, said the
company.

It is also claimed to provide fully automated translation from
traditional Chinese to simplified Chinese, and does most of the
work of translating in the opposite direction. "It will even
convert Chinese Windows menus into simplified characters if
required," said Mo.

In addition to the character input methods supported in Chinese
Windows, three popular simplified character input methods have
been added, namely Wu-be, Binyin, and GB2312-80 internal code.
The system also supports Cantonese Binyin, a method commonly
used in Hong Kong.

To support CC-DOS users migrating to the Chinese Windows
platform, the system has a filter to convert text files prepared
under CC-DOS into Windows format. CC-DOS is a commonly used
DOS variant that supports simplified Chinese characters.

CWIN 3.0 Simplified Chinese Enabler comes with one simplified
font set, while CompuFont has a number of other simplified fonts
under development. It also has nine traditional fonts available in
addition to the one that ships with Chinese Windows 3.0.

The font driver is being distributed in Hong Kong through
Universal Technology (HK) Ltd at a list price of HK$1,200.

(Brett Cameron/19921124/Press Contact: Lawrence Mo,
CompuFont, 852-866 3560)

--
Youren Guo
[email-masked]