I have the reverse problem. Using Fedora 2, the lack of Unicode on the Windows network leaves me unable to interact properly with a lot of files, particularly if the directory name contains a Windows ANSI character like á, which is invalid Unicode.

I often have to drop down to the CLI, use tab completion to find my way down to the file, since I can't type the directory name as Samba wants to see it, then copy it somewhere sensible so that I can open it is OOo or similar. That's just frustrating!

I suppose this comment doesn't have much to do with Perl... Um, well, at least FC2 solved its Unicode with Perl issues so I don't have to constantly change locales!