Internationalization Features in the Microsoft .NET Development Platform and Windows 2000/XP

Syed S. Ghaznavi, (E-mail: ghaznavi7070@yahoo.com ), Texas A&M International University

William A. Newman, (E-mail: wnewman@tamiu.edu ), Texas A&M International University

Abstract

 Recent advancements in Information Technology and in particular, applications development, have made it possible to envision an online world where PCs, servers, smart devices and Internet-based services can collaborate seamlessly. Businesses need to be able to share data across global distances, integrate processes, and join forces to provide for customized and comprehensive business solutions. Information will need to be available wherever and whenever irrespective of the computing device, platform or application in use. With these developments comes the challenge of standardizing global applications across different platforms and worldwide cultures. Microsoft’s new platform for building, deploying, operating and integrating international services is Visual Studio.NET. This paper describes the internationalization capabilities of the .NET platform under Windows 2000/XP and discusses its features for developing applications for a global audience.

Introduction

An important topic in software development that has often been overlooked is internationalization. The Internet now allows for the worldwide distribution of software. This issue was overlooked in the early days of the PC since most users were also part-time programmers and most programming languages are based on a subset of English. At the time, the majority of users could deal with English-only applications even when it wasn't their native language, however, with the widespread use of PC’s across the globe, users are becoming less tolerant of applications that don't communicate with them in their own native language. With the release of the .NET Framework, Microsoft has both simplified and enhanced the ability for developers to create global-ready applications. The Microsoft .NET Framework not only makes it possible to build international applications, but many of the tools such as Visual Studio .NET make it quite easy. This paper looks at internationalization with .NET and discusses some features in the .NET development environment that can be used to make applications truly global.

 Overview of Windows 2000/XP International Support

Providing increased support for international and multilingual computing, Windows 2000 supports sixty scripts, hundreds of languages and 126 locales that will be discussed in detail in the following. Above all, the international feature set of Windows 2000 satisfies two key customer user requirements by:

• Enabling global communication, allowing users to edit content in any language and to work in any given language.
• Simplifying the deployment, maintenance and support of different language releases of the operating system worldwide, reducing the complexity and overall cost.

Windows XP extends this global support and brings for the very first time multilingual computing support into the client space. The following section provide a brief review of Windows 2000’s international support and then Windows XP’s improvements and discussion of the expanded feature list for use in a global solution.