The Unicode Consortium announces the publication of The Unicode Standard Version 4.0, which now defines over 96,000 characters for the languages of the world, and provides detailed properties and algorithms for computer systems. With Unicode 4.0, additional characters needed by linguists for phonetic transcription are included. As a significant step towards the digital preservation of world heritage, this new version encodes characters for Linear B and other ancient Mediterranean alphabets. At the same time, it expands support for modern minority languages. This removes a major barrier that has prevented people from using their own languages on computers.The accompanying CD-ROM includes the text of all the Unicode Standard Annexes and the entire Unicode Character Database.Contents: Acknowledgements; Figures; Tables; Preface; 1 Introduction; 2 GeneralStructure; 3 Conformance; 4 Character Properties; 5 Implementation Guidelines;6 Writing Systems and Punctuation; 7 European Alphabetic Scripts; 8Middle Eastern Scripts; 9 South Asian Scripts; 10 Southeast AsianScripts; 11 East Asian Scripts; 12 Additional Modern Scripts; 13Archaic Scripts; 14 Symbols; 15 Special Areas and Format Characters; 16 CodeCharts; 17 Han Radical-Stroke Index; Appendices: A Han Unification History, BAbstracts of Unicode Technical Reports, C Relationship to ISO/IEC 10646, DChanges from Unicode Version 3.0, G Glossary, R References, Indices