Well it's not like he's just changed his mind and not bothered to tell anyone is it? 18 months isn't very long for a major change like UTF, and that's assuming it was on the top of his to-do list. Remember it's not just a case of switching a program to UTF, there's also an entire scripting language which needs support aswell. I think many people underestimate (or don't even consider) just how difficult that will be.
