» My name is Mäkinen, Veikko Mäkinen

Sometimes it’s not easy to be a Finn with weird characters in my surname…

On 18.12.2010 20:22, devenroll@apple.com wrote:
> Please include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.
>
> Follow-up:  XXXXXXXXXXX
>
> Re: iOS Developer Program
>
> Dear Mr Makinen,
>
> We are currently in the process of reviewing your iOS Developer
> Program enrolment information.
>
> In reviewing your company enrolment application, we have found the
> following information:
>
> Enrollment ID: XXXXXXXXXX 
> Company Name: XXXXXXXXXX  
> Applicant Name: Veikko Mäkinen 
> Email: veikko.makinen@xxxxx
>
>
> Please note that the applicant name is in double-byte characters. We
> are unable to properly view this on our system since we require
> registered information to be in standard English characters. We have
> therefore withdrawn your enrolment XXXXXXXXXXX and you can submit a
> new enrolment request with the correct applicant name.
>
> We ask that you please submit a new enrolment using a different Apple
> ID and email address from the ones used for your original enrolment.


Dear Apple Developer Support,


I have read this message over and over again and several times checked 
my calendar to make sure I'm still in year 2010 and not leaped back to 
the 90'ies. Don't get me wrong, though. Many quality software systems 
were built in the 90'ies and if your enrollment system still runs just 
fine there's no need to update it to support other character sets besides 
the legendary American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or 
ASCII. After all, if we get by with ten digits, 128 characters should 
be plenty.

This can, however, become problematic now that developing countries like 
Finland or Germany are joining the party. Some of these newcomers, me 
being one of them, might expect to be able to use their actual names 
or at least GET A NOTICE AND A CHANCE TO CORRECT IF THE NAME PROVIDED 
IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

And then about creating a totally new Apple ID just to be able to enroll 
with a fake name: You have got to be kidding...? No? Absolutely sure? 
I have changed the name in my Apple ID account but the enrollment system 
still insists that my name is Veikko Mäkinen. Can't I reset the information 
from the Apple ID account? I was under the impression that Apple systems 
Just Work.


Sincerely,
Veikko Mäkinen

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