Macmillan USA and MandrakeSoft Announce Exclusive Distribution Agreement

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - June 8, 2000 - Macmillan USA and MandrakeSoft today announced a strategic, long-term agreement whereby Macmillan will be the exclusive retail distributor of the English version of the Linux-Mandrake operating system in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, South Africa, Scandinavia (Finland, Norway, Sweden), Australia and Indonesia.

MacMillan began distributing MandrakeSoft's version of Linux in June 1999. According to figures supplied by PC Data http://www.pcdata.com/), together Macmillan and MandrakeSoft have enjoyed steady leadership in the retail Linux market. Since 1999, they have maintained an average of 30% unit share in retail stores, at one point capturing an overall 52% unit share. "There is no question, MacMillan's leadership in retail distribution is obvious," said Daniel Morales, MandrakeSoft's Vice President, US Operations. "Their presence in retail outlets offered MandrakeSoft a powerful way to increase Linux-Mandrake market share and get our award winning product into the front door of small and medimum sized businesses."

"Our decision to partner with Macmillan was strategic. MacMillan's strong marketing team provides the key elements needed for MandrakeSoft to maintain its leadership position in the fast-changing world of Linux," said Morales. "We are very excited about our long-term partnership agreement."

MacMillan's Linux-Mandrake products address a growing need in the Linux community for continuously improved ease-of-use and the latest technology updates. "With the Linux market becoming increasingly crowded, the players that deliver distributions geared toward truly enhancing end-users' experiences will win," attested Macmillan Software's Vice President and interim Publisher, Jeff Valler. "Linux-Mandrake is a solid operating system for both new and high-end users. MandrakeSoft is very successful at raising the technology bar. Our experience at retail distribution, combined with the leading technology development from MandrakeSoft, brings great strength to the Linux marketplace."

Partnership objectives between Macmillan and MandrakeSoft extend beyond the retail distribution channel. Both companies have a vested interest in the grass-roots nature of the Linux community, and plan to work closely to brand their partnership. The enhanced MacMillan/MandrakeSoft relationship will produce collaborative efforts at trade shows, Linux User Group involvement, and marketing and promotional activities. "This new relationship between MacMillan and MandrakeSoft only solidifies our mutual commitment to providing the Linux market with the options they seek, from award-winning technology to education and market presence," said Valler. "As market leaders, we will continue to advance the open source movement so that we are all winners."

ABOUT MANDRAKESOFT
MandrakeSoft publishes the Linux-Mandrake operating system, based on open-source development (which provides free access to source code published in accordance with a General Public License, or GPL). Several hundred developers throughout the world contribute to the continuous improvement of the distribution product directly over the Internet. This international developer community has given Linux-Mandrake a product that is available in over 40 languages.

Linux-Mandrake is a complete system with a choice of several powerful, pre-configured graphic interfaces (notably the leaders KDE and GNOME), as well as more than 1700 applications including Netscape Communicator, StarOffice suite, and the Web Apache server.

"Born on the Internet," MandrakeSoft established headquarters in Europe and the US. For more information, news and updates.

ABOUT MACMILLAN USA
Macmillan USA is a unit of Pearson Technology Group, the world's largest provider of consumer and professional computer, information technology, engineering and reference content. As one of the industry's leading innovators in both print and digital formats, Macmillan's imprints include Que, Sams, BradyGAMES Strategy Guides, Que Learning Systems, Macmillan Software and MacMillan Lifestyles, publisher of the best-selling Complete Idiot's Guide line of reference books. Pearson Technology Group is an operating unit of Pearson Education, the world's leading education publisher.

For the latest in Macmillan's software and book products, visit http://www.macmillansoftware.com/