FW: Unicode Character Database 5.0 and Unicode Collation Alghorithm 5.0 Released

 
FYI

From: unicore-bounce@unicode.org [mailto:unicore-bounce@unicode.org] On
Behalf Of Magda Danish (Unicode)
Sent: 18 July 2006 15:53
To: unicode@unicode.org
Subject: Unicode Character Database 5.0 and Unicode Collation Alghorithm 5.0
Released

 

Mountain View, CA, July 18, 2006 -- The Unicode® Consortium announces the
release of a significant update of its widely-used Unicode Character
Database (UCD). The new version, Version 5.0, defines more than 99,000
characters for the languages of the world, and provides the detailed
properties needed for computer software implementations. This latest level
of the UCD contains all the information needed to update software to support
the characters and algorithms that are the foundation for all modern
computer programs - including the latest data for Unicode security
mechanisms, collation, and locales.

 

For the first time, the Unicode Collation Algorithm (UCA) is released in
parallel with the UCD - both UCA Version 5.0 and UCD Version 5.0 are
available simultaneously, enabling default collation for all 99,000
characters. For more information on UCA 5.0, see
http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr10.

Implementers are now able to more quickly update their software to fully
support minority languages, improved Indic processing, and the newly
published subset of most useful Chinese characters for mobile and small
applications, IICore.

 

Version 5.0 of the UCD opens the power of the Common Locale Data Repository
(CLDR) Version 1.4 - 360 locales (121 languages and 142 territories) are now
supported. The systemization and extension of character properties will
enable improved text processing for all CLDR locales.

 

In this latest version, the UCD data provides dependable caseless matching
through stable case folding operations. Version 5.0 data is also the basis
for better interoperability for bidirectional scripts (such as Arabic and
Hebrew), line breaking, and text segmentation. 

With the release of this data, implementers can begin to move their software
to Version 5.0, in anticipation of the Unicode Version 5.0 support that will
ship with many products and libraries, including Windows Vista, ICU,
offerings from Google, Yahoo! and many other companies.

 

The release of Version 5.0 of the UCD is the first step in the release of
The Unicode Standard, Version 5.0 - the book (ISBN 0-321-48091-0) will be
published by Addison-Wesley in the 4th quarter of 2006. For more information
about Unicode 5.0 and the Unicode Character Database, see
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.0.0/.

 

The latest features of Unicode Version 5.0 will also be showcased at the
30th Internationalization and Unicode Conference (IUC) on November 17-19,
2006 in Washington, D.C. -- see http://www.unicodeconference.org/.

 

 

About the Unicode Consortium

 

The Unicode Consortium is a non-profit organization founded to develop,
extend and promote use of the Unicode Standard and related globalization
standards. The membership of the consortium represents a broad spectrum of
corporations and organizations in the computer and information processing
industry: Adobe Systems, L'Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie,
Apple Computer, Basis Technology, Denic e.G., Google, Government of India -
Ministry of Information Technology, Government of Pakistan - National
Language Authority, HP, IBM, Justsystem, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging,
Oracle, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, The University of California at
Berkeley, Yahoo, plus well over a hundred Associate, Liaison, and Individual
members.

 

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

 

---------------------------

Magda Danish
Sr. Administrative Director
The Unicode Consortium
650-693-3921
magda@unicode.org

Received on Tuesday, 18 July 2006 15:25:54 UTC