Using Japanese Applications on English Windows: Win/V

My company is a multinational with a small team sometimes working in Japanese. Several of the team want to use Japanese-language software, such as the new Ichitaro for Windows word processing package, but that needs Windows 3. 1J to run. Our company standards allow only English Windows. What can I do to meet both demands?

I assume that your corporate standards carry more weight than mere users' desires, so my answer will only cover Japanese capability under English windows. And I'm happy to say that you're in luck!

The cheapest way to do Japanese word processing under English windows is to use a dedicated package, such as KanjiWord (slated for review in Computing Japan next month). KanjiWord includes the fonts, front end processor (FEP), and dictionaries needed t o produce and print Japanese documents. This doesn't solve your problem, though, since KanjiWord is a self-contained program, not an environment that will support other Japanese-language software.

Two products that will support Japanese under English Windows 3.1 are Win/V (by C&F Computing) and TwinBridge (by PC Express). This month's help desk will cover Win/V we'll look at TwinBridge in a future issue.

Win/V

Briefly, Win/V is a collection of font and driver extensions to English-language Windows that provides a Japanese-language environment. The implementation is so well done that it allows you to run most Japanese Windows applications just as if you were using Windows 3.15. Why would you want to use Win/V instead of Windows 3.15 in the first place? One reason, as you indicate in your question, is that most corporations require users To run a standard environment so that network administrators can maintain it. With Win/V no special hardware or other low-level software is needed: not even DOS/V. Any user with a standard 486 PC, English Windows, English-language keyboard, and standard printer (such as a Hewlett Packard LaserJet III or IV) can run most popula r Japanese-language Windows programs.

Another reason you might want to run Win/V' is related to the Japanese marketplace. Microsoft does not yet have an official Japanese network solution, so C&F Computing developed Win/V to be used by companies wanting to do Japanese within a Microsoft ne tworked environment. By using Win/V with English-language Windows for Workgroups, which is cheap and easy to install, companies can have the Microsoft solution plus the ability to run standard Japanese applications. This fix has proved popular, with more than 12,000 copies of Win/V sold since its release last year.

You install Win/V off the distribution diskette lust as you would any other Windows program. The first time through, you may want to follow the instructions for a default installation by pressing the ENTER key at each question. (If you have Japanese Wi ndows already installed, follow the same procedure, but be sure to install all the fonts that come with Win/V rather than trying to use the fonts already installed. Otherwise, you'll wind up with garbage instead of Kanji on the screen.

The first release of Win/V was version 1.00. While the concept was great, that particular version was laden with bugs, and it made running Japanese applications unbearably slow. The latest version, Win/V 1.2, is a huge improvement. Japanese programs will now run at roughly the same speed with Win/V as with regular Windows 3.15 installed. (If you already have version 1.00 and are upgrading -- which you definitely should -- be sure to install the version 1.2 fonts and drivers over the old ones. If you don't, your system may suddenly freeze.)

The first thing you notice about Win/V 1.2 is how compact it is: it comes on a single 1.44MB distribution diskette and takes less than 1MB of RAM. In contrast, Windows 3.15 comes on about a dozen 1.44MB diskettes and requires a minimum 4MB (in practi ce, 6MB to 8MB) of RAM to run.

An important point: Win/V does not come with an FEP. You will need to buy this separately, and the choice of the correct FEP is as important as the choice of applications software. I recommend ATOK8 by Justsystem Corporation (this is far superior to Mi crosoft's IME). ATOK8 has an excellent kanji phrase input algorithm and is quite good at selecting the correct Kanji sequences for quick typists. In preparing this Help Desk article, I tested Win/V on a PC 486DX2/66 Dell computer, with 8MB RAM and a 340MB hard disk. I tested Win/V with the Japanese versions of MS Word S.OJ, MS Excel 4.05, MS Excel 5.OJ, and MS Works 3.0. My network software was Novell NetWare, and the printer was a Lexmark 4039-12R. I'11 only report here that everything worked fine. The advantages of Win/V are:

• Compact program size
• Minimal memory usage
• Fast performance (on a 4MB machine, it actually runs faster than Windows 3.15)
• Supports most English and Japanese printer drivers (but not Canon LIPS III) and most standard Windows display drivers
• Easy switching (no rebooting, as with DOS/V) between English and Japanese
• Does not require DOS/V
• Enables use of Japanese-language application software on English Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.1

• No support for Japanese DOS applications
• Cannot handle kanji in file names · Does not support Windows NT/16- bit subsystem and WABI
• Does not support API of Japanese TrueType fonts
• No support from application software manufacturers.

The hardest part about using Win/V may be finding it. It is available for downloading from Nifty-Serve (if you're experienced enough with Nifty's laborious interface to locate the file); upon downloading, your credit card will be charged 6,000 Or you c an look in the larger computer stores for a book (in Japanese) entitled Inside Win/V. It comes with a diskette enclosed. Just be sure to get the latest version, 1.2.