> "Which EBCDIC?" is not that different a headache from "which extended ASCII code page?" Sure, but that's still a massive headache. You've probably never had

> "Which EBCDIC?" is not that different a headache from "which extended ASCII code page?" Sure, but that's still a massive headache. You've probably never had a a headache like needing to switch ASCII or EBCDIC code pages. You generally can't just switch code pages per-record in a file, storing mixed code page data to disk is generally a bad idea, and in some operating systems you can barely switch code pages per application and sometimes need ROM hacks and entire mainframe restarts to switch code pages. (Modern z/OS supports something more like modern Linux locale switching with environment variables before running applications so should at least allow per-application code pages.) Even if the lowest common denominator code page you choose to run your application in is a full bit or two more than the 7-bit ASCII lowest common denominator a single code page per application is still never going to cover the breadth of UTF-8 without nasty hacks. (That's of course assuming you don't have other problems such as intermediate tools that presume you are only using ASCII compatible EBCDIC subsets of code pages, which may be the case when you've got an eclectic evolution of code accreted around your mainframe apps.)