For Immediate Release Contact: Channa Omkar, Marketing Manager (301) 220-1919

EMPRESS CO-FOUNDER MEETS LINUS TORVALDS February 5, 1996 -- Ivor Ladd, Co-Founder of Empress Software Inc, recently met Linus Torvalds, creator of the free Unix-like operating system, Linux. The two discussed several topics including the future of Linux, commercialization of the Linux operating system, and issues regarding the use of large Blob (Binary Large Objects) databases under Linux. The two technology experts also discussed 64 bit Linux, and its availability for several different platforms. Mr. Ladd announced that Empress Software Inc. will support Linux for the DEC Alpha with a port of its 64 bit-ready multimedia RDBMS to the new platform.

At the meeting, Mr. Ladd presented Linus Torvalds with a copy of one of Empress Software's newest products, Personal Empress for Linux. Personal Empress is a single user version of Empress' multimedia RDBMS and includes: RDBMS, 4GL application generator, GUI development tools, Dynamic SQL, Empress Hypermedia (a World Wide Web HTML toolkit), and a full documentation suite all on a single CD ROM. Empress Software manufactures and distributes the Empress RDBMS, including 4GL development tools, GUI development tools, ODBC client/server, Empress Hypermedia (a World Wide Web HTML toolkit), and other related products through a distributor network in many countries around the world. The Empress multimedia RDBMS is available for all leading UNIX platforms and UNIX variants. More information about Empress Software, Inc. and its complete line of multimedia RDBMS products can be found at http://www.empress.com/. Empress Software Inc. Empress Software Inc. 3100 Steeles Ave East 6401 Golden Triangle Drive Markham, Ontario, Canada Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA Phone: (905) 513-8888 Phone: (301) 220-1919 Fax: (905) 513-1668 Fax: (301) 220-1997 http://www.empress.com/ http://www.empress.com/ sales@empress.com sales@empress.com NOTE: Pictures are available from Empress Software at (301) 220-1919.