Ximian Releases Ximian Evolution Version 1.0, the Definitive Personal and Workgroup Information Management Application for Linux and UNIX

Seamlessly Integrated Email, Calendar, Contact, Task Management and Extensive Standards Support Enable the Corporate Open Source Desktop

BOSTON, Mass.-December 3, 2001 - Ximian, Inc., the leading open source desktop company, today announced the availability of Ximian Evolution™ version 1.0, the premier personal and workgroup information management solution for Linux and UNIX-based systems. In one powerful and easy-to-use application, Ximian Evolution uniquely integrates email, calendar, contact and task list management. Evolution's broad support for data exchange and communications standards enables Linux and UNIX users to be integrated into corporate networks and messaging systems. Ximian Evolution 1.0 and its source code can be freely downloaded or purchased on CD as part of the Ximian Desktop software at www.ximian.com.

The culmination of two years of open source development with broad community support, Ximian Evolution provides the critical collaboration and information management functionality essential to adoption of the Linux desktop. Advanced email capabilities, such as threaded mail view, automatic message indexing, and the unique vFolder™ contextual views provide the needed power and flexibility to manage large email boxes. Ximian Evolution provides support for SMTP, POP, IMAP and other standard messaging protocols. It also enables peer-to-peer calendaring with other users of Evolution, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and other applications supporting the iCalendar protocol. LDAP and vCard support also enables users to share both corporate and personal address book information.

"Ximian is addressing the major challenges to open source desktop adoption: usability, productivity application availability, interoperability, and software management," said Nat Friedman, co-founder and vice president of product development for Ximian. "The release of Ximian Evolution 1.0 is both a milestone achievement for the company and a key last piece of the puzzle for the open desktop; Linux and UNIX users and workgroups now have the complete, elegant email and information management solution they've needed."

"Sun Microsystems congratulates Ximian on the release of the Evolution Suite for the GNOME User Environment," said Mike Rogers, vice president of the Webtop and Applications Group at Sun. "This high quality, easy to use and comprehensive e-mail, calendaring and address book groupware suite is a testament to the significance and capabilities of open source development and the systems standards."

Integrated Information Management for Linux and UNIX

Ximian Evolution 1.0 lets users get started quickly by combining an intuitive interface with a robust set of email, schedule, address book and to-do list management capabilities. These features include:

• Powerful Email Handling: Features such as flexible message formatting (including HTML and text format as well as embedded images or attachments), address recognition, built-in spell checker, automatic email indexing, user-defined filters and multiple email account management and support for industry standard security and encryption (PGP/GPG, SASL, SSL/TLS) give Ximian Evolution superior email capabilities for Linux and UNIX users. The unique vFolders let users save email searches to dynamically create powerful, contextual views of their messages.
• Flexible Calendaring and Collaboration: Ximian Evolution lets users effortlessly create one-time, all-day or recurring events, including on screen, email or sound reminders. Users can schedule and confirm group meetings, even with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes users.
• Integrated Information management: In addition to robust address book and to-do list management, Ximian Evolution seamlessly integrates each of the applications in its suite. The Summary provides an on screen snapshot of upcoming appointments, tasks, new email, news, weather and more. QuickSearch finds appointments, contacts, email messages, and to-do items fast. And built-in synchronization keeps Ximian Evolution users' calendars, contacts and tasks up-to-date with their Palm handheld devices.
• Broad Linux Distribution Support: Ximian Evolution supports a broad range of the leading Linux distributions and UNIX versions, including Red Hat 6.2, 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2; Mandrake 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 and 8.0; SuSE 6.4, 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2; Debian GNU Linux 2.2; TurboLinux 6.0; Yellow Dog 1.2 and 2.0; LinuxPPC 2000 and Solaris 8. (With new distribution support constantly being added, users should check the Ximian web site for the latest version support.)
• Compatible with Corporate Standards: Ximian Evolution supports standard communications and data interchange standards to allow users to collaborate across various platforms. Ximian Evolution is compatible with SMTP, authenticated SMTP, POP, IMAP and numerous other messaging environments. It can read or import mailboxes from Netscape, Outlook Express, UNIX mbox, Eudora and other Linux and UNIX email formats. Ximian Evolution is interoperable with common standards such as the LDAP protocol and vCard. Ximian Evolution supports peer-to-peer calendaring with products that support iCalendar, including Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.

"As a long-time Windows user and systems administrator looking to Linux for secure end user email, Evolution's elegant interface and full groupware feature set let me quickly get up and running in an otherwise unfamiliar setting," said Robert Cole, systems administrator at Zila Technical Operations. "I fell in love with Evolution from the start and it immediately became my email, schedule and address book client of choice, one that I am recommending to other users."

Optional Interoperability with Microsoft Exchange

Ximian also announced today the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange, an add-in product to Ximian Evolution geared towards providing full interoperability with Microsoft Exchange 2000 (see release, "Ximian to Offer Interoperability For Ximian Evolution with Microsoft Exchange 2000"). Available early next year, this add-in package allows Ximian Evolution to work seamlessly as a true groupware client for Microsoft Exchange 2000. Ximian Connector enables Linux and UNIX-based Ximian Evolution users to use corporate Microsoft Exchange 2000 servers to read email, handle group calendaring, and to manage contacts and tasks lists.

Ximian Evolution 1.0 can be freely downloaded from www.ximian.com. Ximian Evolution 1.0 is included in the Ximian Desktop Standard Edition and Professional Edition products, which will ship on CD later this month for $29.95 and $49.95, respectively. Copies can be ordered today by visiting the Ximian web store at www.ximian.com or by calling 1-866-4XIMIAN (outside the United States, 423-244-0162).

About Ximian, Inc.

Ximian is the established leader in providing open source desktop technology, applications, support and services for the Linux and UNIX marketplaces. Ximian products, in use by over 800,000 people worldwide, are providing the ease of use, productivity and interoperability needed to propel the adoption of the Linux desktop in corporate computing environments. Its Ximian Desktop software starts with Ximian GNOME, a productized end-user desktop based on the GNOME project, to provide a complete graphical desktop environment and productivity application suite for Linux and UNIX systems. Ximian Red Carpet™ and Ximian Evolution deliver software and personal information management solutions for both end-users and corporate customers. Comprised of many of the original architects of the GNOME system, Ximian is a founding member of the GNOME Foundation and sits on the advisory board. The company has secured funding from leading venture firms Charles River Ventures and Battery Ventures and can be reached at www.ximian.com.

Ximian, Ximian Evolution, Red Carpet, and vFolder are trademarks of Ximian, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.