On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 1:47 PM James Kass via Unicode <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Although there probably isn't really any concerted effort to "keep > plain-text mediocre", it can sometimes seem that way. > Dennis Ritchie allegedly replied to requests for new features in C with “If you want PL/I, you know where to find it.” C is still an austere language, and still well used, with users who want C++ or Java knowing where to find them. If you want all the features of rich text, use rich text. Avant-garde enthusiasts are on the leading edge by definition. That's > why they're known as trend setters. Unicode exists because > forward-looking people envisioned it and worked to make it happen. > Regardless of one's perception of exuberance, Unicode turned out to be > so much more than a fringe benefit. > Unicode exists because large corporations wanted to sell computers to users around the world, and found supporting a million different character sets was costly and buggy, and that users wanted to mix scripts in ways that a single character set didn't support and ISO 2022 and similar solutions just weren't cutting it. That's a clear user story. People can use italics on computers without problem. Twitter has chosen not to support italics on their platform, which users have found hacky work-arounds for. That's not such a clear user story; shouldn't Twitter add support for italics instead of changing every system in the world?
