The UTF-32 thing was confusing me. It is mentioned in multiple places but never explicit if it was a temporary design decision to ease the transition, perfectly reasonable, or the design going forward in perpetuity, in which case I would love to understand why something like bstr (WTF-8 under the covers) doesn't fit the bill. I've gathered so far that it might be the former, but if it is the later I would still like to know more.