Indeed. Each time we introduce a new Codec, we introduce new
interoperability problems and disruption (usually because it gets
implemented wrong, or not at all). Looks like IDNA will gives us yet
another Codec, and we also need one for the local-part (though hopefully
we can reuse an existing one there).
one interesting aspect of IDNA - if you don't implement that codec
right then *none* of your applications work. you'll figure this out
pretty quickly.
But where will this end? What more Codecs will be needed in future?
I don't see the end to them anytime soon. We're a long way from discovering
a Universal Format for everything (and no, UTF-8 is NOT it - its flaws are
already quite obvious, it too suffers from the backward compatibility problem,
and it's only applicable to a limited kind of text)
Surely, the lesson to be learned is that Codecs are more trouble than they
are worth, and that sooner or later we need to have a Final Solution to
the problem.
surely the lesson to be learned is that those who don't understand history
are doomed to repeat past mistakes. "Final Solutions" are neither.
Keith