FW: Version 4.1 of the Unicode Standard Released

FYI

-----Original Message-----
From: unicore-bounce@unicode.org [mailto:unicore-bounce@unicode.org] On
Behalf Of Rick McGowan
Sent: 31 March 2005 19:22
To: unicode@unicode.org
Subject: Version 4.1 of the Unicode Standard Released

Version 4.1 of the Unicode® Standard Released

Mountain View, CA, March 31, 2005 - The Unicode® Consortium announced today
the release of the latest version of the Unicode Standard, Version 4.1.0.
This version adds 1,273 new characters, including those necessary to
complete roundtrip mapping of the HKSCS and GB 18030 standards, five new
currency signs, some characters for Indic and Korean, and eight new scripts.
In addition, there have been a number of significant additions and changes
to the Unicode Character Database properties, which determine the behavior
of characters in modern software.

Unicode 4.1 adds two new Unicode Standard Annexes: UAX #31: Identifier and
Pattern Syntax and UAX #34: Unicode Named Character Sequences, and makes
significant changes to other Unicode Standard Annexes. UAX #31 is of
particular interest as a result of the broader incorporation of Unicode in
protocols and programming languages. Applications from programming languages
to international domain names require stable mechanisms for distinguishing
both identifiers and syntax characters, even as characters for additional
languages are added to the Unicode Standard.

The release of Unicode 4.1 will be soon followed by a new release of the
Unicode Collation Algorithm, for language-sensitive sorting, searching, and
matching; by Unicode Regular Expressions, setting the standard for handling
Unicode character in regular expressions; and by a new draft of Unicode
Security Considerations, for dealing with security issues posed by the large
number of visually-similar characters in Unicode.

For complete details on Unicode 4.1, see
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.1.0/ . Those interested in the
latest developments in software globalization can attend the next Unicode
conference, April 6-8, 2005 in Berlin, Germany.

About the Unicode Standard

The Unicode Standard is a fundamental component of all modern software and
information technology protocols. It provides a uniform, universal
architecture and encoding for all languages of the world -- with over 96,000
characters currently encoded -- and is the basis for processing, storage,
and seamless data interchange of text data worldwide. Unicode is required by
modern standards such as XML, Java, C#, ECMAScript (JavaScript), LDAP, CORBA
3.0, WML, IDN, etc., and is the official way to implement ISO/IEC 10646.

About the Unicode Consortium

The Unicode Consortium is a non-profit organization founded to develop,
extend and promote software globalization. The membership of the consortium
represents a broad spectrum of corporations and organizations in the
computer and information processing industry. Full members (the highest
level) are: Adobe Systems, L'Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie,
Apple Computer, Government of India - Ministry of Information Technology,
Government of Pakistan - National Language Authority, HP, IBM, Justsystem,
Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, Oracle, RLG, SAP, Sun Microsystems, and Sybase.
In addition, there are about 100 Supporting, Associate, Liaison, and
Individual members.

For more information, please contact the Unicode Consortium
http://www.unicode.org

Received on Monday, 11 April 2005 10:42:27 UTC