So build unicode routines on top. Don't make me put all my data in a non-standard datatype where another type already exists and is more common.

Users of C++ already have to deal with std::string and char * and possibly PWSTR if they are on Windows, why throw yet another type at them?

This reminds me of a joke I used to tell, it starts with a problem that there are too many string types, and the solution, somehow, always ends up being another string type...