German registry-approach

[Desiree]

We are moving to Germany in a few months. I have been told that I can expect
problems, because Windows or some (don't know which or what)
software/internet-access-programs in Germany approach the registry
differently than English Windows versions.
I don't know exactly what I am talking about, but I hope some of you do
........
It might be that I will have to buy the German Windows version (so someone
told me); if so, I'd rather do this now than encountering problems after we
have moved.

 

[Tim Meddick]

I think someone is pulling your leg! Computers don't know where they are,
other than setting the Regional Settings in control panel and selecting what
character set to use. I could be in Germany now, or the US, or, in fact
England!

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

We are moving to Germany in a few months. I have been told that I can
expect
problems, because Windows or some (don't know which or what)
software/internet-access-programs in Germany approach the registry
differently than English Windows versions.
I don't know exactly what I am talking about, but I hope some of you do
.......
It might be that I will have to buy the German Windows version (so someone
told me); if so, I'd rather do this now than encountering problems after
we
have moved.

You won't have any problems other than the usual keyboard mapping issues and
perhaps some Umlaut problems in a Console environment.

About keyboard maps: You will need to decide if you're prepared to switch to
a German-style keyboard which has three major differences compared to a
US-keyboard:
- The letters Y and Z are switched
- Most symbols, especially ellipses, are in different places
- Symbols such as @ or | require a special prefix key.
If you prefer to stick to the US keyboard layout then you need to map all
Umlaut characters to existing keys, which can be done without too much
difficulty.

 

[Tim Meddick]

That is assuming he want to type in German!?

 

[Desiree]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your prompt answer. It seemed a rather impossible story to me as
well. It was provided to me by a person who is an intermediair for Deutsche
Telekom, that is why I wanted to try and find out more about this. We are
depending on our computers to continue working when we have moved you see.

Thanks!
Desiree, The Hague, Netherlands

 

[Tim Meddick]

Hi Desiree,
Your welcome! As "Pegasus" confirms in his post, it's only
the character set and, if you want to type in the German language, and use
the Umlaut character, you'll need to use a different keyboard as well. But,
as far as internet protocol goes - it's the same accessing the net all over
the planet (that's why it was created).

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

That is assuming he want to type in German!?

It might be a question of survival for the OP to type things in German.
"Zwei Brötchen mit Würstchen, danke schön!"

 

[Frank Slootweg]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your prompt answer. It seemed a rather impossible story to me as
well. It was provided to me by a person who is an intermediair for Deutsche
Telekom, that is why I wanted to try and find out more about this. We are
depending on our computers to continue working when we have moved you see.

Thanks!
Desiree, The Hague, Netherlands

They might be referring to names of *folders* (i.e. not the registry).

For example, assuming you're using the Dutch Windows version, your
Internet Explorer Favorites are in a folder called "Favorieten" (Dutch
for "Favorites". "My Documents" is "Mijn Dokumenten" in Dutch. Etc.,
etc.. The same will apply to a German version of Windows.

But you probably will not use a different (language) version of
Windows, but just the one you currently use, so all of this is moot.

For example I use the English version and that 'talks'/looks English,
whereever I am, 'even' in Germany!

 

[Frank Slootweg]

[Subject: changed.]

[This is a recording:]

Dear Outlook Express user,

Your posting uses local language characters like u+umlaut, but
it does not contain the required MIME headers which specify the correct
character set (probably ISO-8859/1). You can fix this as follows:

Tools -> Options... -> Send -> News Sending Format -> Plain Text
Settings... You probably have "Message format" set to "Uuencode" (which
is some stupid OE default). If so, set it to "MIME", set "Encode text
using:" to "None" and do *not* set (i.e. no tic-mark) "Allow 8-bit
characters in headers".

You may want to set the "Mail Sending Format" the same.

If you reply after fixing this, then please add some local language
characters, so that I/we can see/check if everything is OK.

Best regards,

Frank Slootweg

[End of recording. 21SEP2005.]

 

[FredW]

Hi Desiree,
Your welcome! As "Pegasus" confirms in his post, it's only
the character set and, if you want to type in the German language, and use
the Umlaut character, you'll need to use a different keyboard as well.

No, that is not correct.

I have a "US"-keyboard, but I can type umlauts as much as I want.
"Tschüß" (= goodbye) is typed by this keyboard.

I use my own language, but a US (International) keyboard setting.
When I type a double quote " and an a,e,u,o,i I get this character with
an umlaut.

e, ë, a, ä, o, ö, u, ü, i, ï

A change of keyboard is not required to type in a different language.

 

[FredW]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your prompt answer. It seemed a rather impossible story to me as
well. It was provided to me by a person who is an intermediair for Deutsche
Telekom, that is why I wanted to try and find out more about this. We are
depending on our computers to continue working when we have moved you see.

Thanks!
Desiree, The Hague, Netherlands

I read also in microsoft.public.de.german.windowsxp.setup (German
language) and in microsoft.public.nl.windowsxp (and *.home, *.pro),
its a very nice fairy tale, but I have never seen it before.

As I also participate in some German forums and I can read and write
there without any problem (including umlaut and ß), so I think someone
tried to sell you something you don't need.
(or he did not know what he was talking about.)

Anyway, it was a good laugh.


http://www.arcor.de/
http://www.t-home.de/
http://www.wieistmeineip.de/dsl-anbieter/vergleich.html

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=internetanbieter&meta=lr=lang_de&aq=5&oq=internet

 

[Tim Meddick]

Hi Fred,
Okay, okay, yes that was an error, just changing the character
set is probably enough, but you're missing the point, no? The issue being:
does location affect internet access - and the answer to that is "no"!

 

[FredW]

Hi Fred,
Okay, okay, yes that was an error, just changing the character
set is probably enough, but you're missing the point, no? The issue being:
does location affect internet access - and the answer to that is "no"!

I am not missing any point, thank you.

You are missing a keyboard.
(is it en-us, is it en-gb, is it en-au, is it en-XX?)
;-)

 

[Peter Foldes]

In Germany and Europe you have the XP N version in all the different versions that
we have here. The only difference between our versions and the N version in Europe
is that the Media Player is not bundled with the XP OS and therefore the Registry is
a bit different . Maybe that is what that person was trying to explain to you

 

[Tim Meddick]

The original question was "will I still be able to use my computer on the
internet when I move to Germany" and the answer is "Yes"! Who cares what
this person meant? They were frightening the OP into thinking they needed a
new operating system.

 

[Frank Slootweg]

In Germany and Europe you have the XP N version in all the different
versions that we have here. The only difference between our versions
and the N version in Europe is that the Media Player is not bundled
with the XP OS and therefore the Registry is a bit different . Maybe
that is what that person was trying to explain to you

Just to be clear, in Germany/Europe 'we' *also* have the XP N version,
but we also have the *non*-N version. Actually the non-N version is more
common and you will have to look for the N version with a big
flashlight. Both my XP laptops, one HP and one Acer, came *with* Media
Player. Same for my HP Vista laptop.

 

[VanguardLH]

We are moving to Germany in a few months. I have been told that I can expect
problems, because Windows or some (don't know which or what)
software/internet-access-programs in Germany approach the registry
differently than English Windows versions.
I don't know exactly what I am talking about, but I hope some of you do
.......
It might be that I will have to buy the German Windows version (so someone
told me); if so, I'd rather do this now than encountering problems after we
have moved.

Did this prankster also ask you to fetch them a metric crescent wrench?