[link|http://www-306.ibm.com/software/globalization/icu/index.jsp|http://www-306.ibm.c...ion/icu/index.jsp]
Incidentally, NextStep had a fully compliant unicode string object for Objective C from the beginning (1990-ish).
What is C++'s excuse? Particularly given that its creator was a European? Definitely short sighted tunnel vision.