Avoiding Problems by Avoiding Decisions

[Heiko Evermann]

Hi Don,

>>>
>>>FWIW that is what GNOME and Red Hat have decided to do. I think
>>>the flags are the cause of more insult/offense than the names and
>>>that it makes sense to completely remove them.
>>>      
>>>
>>IMO it's ridiculous to remove all flags just because there is a
>>handful of controversial ones. Did you even consider the impact on
>>usability?
>>
I think so, too.

>>    
>>
>
>The usability issue that I'm concerned about is making KDE usable for 
>Chinese.
>
IMHO it is not a question of usability for Chinese, but political 
nitpicking. But one could retain some flags.
One could just remove the disputed flags AND the flag of those countries 
that dispute them. That would mean
* remove Taiwan AND china
* remove Macedonia/FYROM AND Greece
etc.
* and keep all the rest that is happy with their (and their neighbours) 
flags.

>For the kids in China I don't think it's a fun issue. It's the front 
>line of a cold war that has been going on before their parents were 
>born and is defining the shape of the society they live in. I care 
>about those kids too.
>
>If it's possible to keep the flags without offending the government of 
>one of the world's most populous countries that would be great. Maybe 
>it's just a simple case of not showing the flags when the locale is 
>set to simplified Chinese or something. But I don't know and 
>personally feel it's better to be safe than sorry.
>
That could be a solution, too. But I doubt if the Chinese would be 
satisfied with it. As far as I remember, listing Taiwan is already 
offensive to them.

Kind regards,
Heiko Evermann