GPL ACCELERATES DEVELOPMENT OF ABISUITE

Linux users will benefit from the emergence of fully supported Open Source applications

CHAMPAIGN, IL -- Tuesday, December 1st, 1998 -- AbiSource, Inc. announced today that it has adopted the GNU GPL for development of the Open Source desktop productivity applications to be featured in AbiSuite.

Why GPL?

AbiSource's decision to switch licenses for its cross-platform office suite will accelerate development by offering greater amounts of existing GPL code to developers and provide a quicker time to market.

Previously, the AbiSuite source code was distributed under a different Open Source license.

"Our transition to the GNU GPL means that more people can contribute to the development of a cross-platform Open Source office suite with the confidence that their work will never be leveraged against them in a proprietary manner," said Eric Sink, president of AbiSource.

Open Source for the Desktop

AbiSource is developing Open Source desktop productivity applications, including a word processor, a spreadsheet, a personal database and complimentary tools. All of the company's applications will be fully Open Source, cross-platform and professionally supported.

AbiWord, the first AbiSource product for its office suite, will be a full-featured word processor. A developer's release of AbiWord 0.3.0 is available now with full source code under the terms of the GPL. This source code is available at the AbiSource website (http://www.abisource.com).

Linux is a Top Priority

Supported platforms currently include Linux and Windows 95/98/NT. Other operating systems will be supported in the future. Linux-based systems are a top-priority platform for all AbiSource products as they are developed.

"AbiSuite is good news for the Linux world. We need quality, supported Open Source end-user applications for Linux to increase its success on the desktop. I look forward to seeing continued rapid progress in the development of AbiSuite," stated Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux.

About AbiSource

AbiSource, Inc. is privately held, and was founded in January 1997 with a management and development team that has six years of prior experience working together. The AbiSource mission is to become the leading provider of Open Source, full-featured, professionally supported desktop applications.

For more information, see the AbiSource Web site at http://www.abisource.com or contact Scott Boesch at AbiSource, Inc., telephone: 217-356-0105 ext. 642; email: scott@abisource.com.

AbiSource, AbiWord, AbiSuite and the AbiSource logo are trademarks of AbiSource, Inc. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Open Source is a Certification Mark of The Open Source Initiative. Windows and Windows NT are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.