Ximian Announces Release of Red Carpet 1.0

Software Management Application Reduces Support Burden for ISVs; Enables End Users to Easily and Securely Update and Install Ximian GNOME and Linux and Unix Software

Boston, Mass. April 24, 2001 Ximian, Inc., the leading open source desktop company (formerly known as Helix Code, Inc.), announced today the immediate availability of Red Carpet 1.0, which will ship with the Ximian GNOME 1.4 desktop. Red Carpet enables users to quickly and easily install, update and remove software, including Ximian GNOME 1.4 and third-party applications, from their systems. Red Carpet, which works on a wide range of Linux and Unix machines, is the first open source software management application to guarantee system integrity during the maintenance process and to provide multi-platform installations from a single interface. Red Carpet is the only software management tool that works across all the major Linux distributions, making it a uniquely qualified tool in the Linux world.

"Software maintenance should be a simple, one-click operation," said Nat Friedman, co-founder and vice president of product development at Ximian. "Red Carpet offers end users, software developers and ISVs a breakthrough solution for Linux and UNIX software management. It simplifies the installation and maintenance process, informing users in real time of the availability of software updates, regardless of which distribution they use. And because Ximian GNOME has been downloaded by more than 600,000 users, Red Carpet uniquely helps third-party vendors reach and easily update their users across the open source community.

Currently, ISVs who try to distribute software for Linux face an extraordinarily difficult task. The proliferation of Linux distributions, and the variations that exist within a single distribution, make it nearly impossible for a software vendor to ensure that their software is being installed in a known, controlled environment. Red Carpet solves this problem by ensuring that a user's machine has all of the prerequisite software before attempting to install a vendor's packages.

Red Carpet organizes the world of software into easily managed channels, such as Games and Image Editing Tools. Using a single interface to manage software installation and updates across multiple vendors, Red Carpet automatically and securely ensures that each user has the required drivers and other associated software necessary to support each application, freeing users from performing the tedious tasks themselves.

Red Carpet is a key feature of Ximian GNOME 1.4, the newest version of the company's user-friendly, graphical desktop environment. In addition to Red Carpet, Ximian GNOME 1.4 includes file management functionality with Eazel's Nautilus; the Mozilla web browser; MonkeyTalk, a community chat and support network staffed by Ximian personnel; and GNOME Doorman, a wizard-like application that helps users through the process of configuring the desktop. Ximian GNOME 1.4, including Red Carpet, is fully backed and maintained by the GNOME experts at Ximian.

About Ximian

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Ximian (formerly Helix Code, Inc.) builds Ximian GNOME, the world's most user-friendly and cost-effective Internet desktop. In use by more than 600,000 people, the company's software adds an attractive and easy-to-use interface to the power of Linux and Unix operating systems. Ximian is pursuing an aggressive plan of open source application development, providing technology, support, and network services to the Linux and Unix marketplace. Ximian, comprised of many of the original architects of the GNOME system, is a founding member of the GNOME Foundation and sits on the advisory board. The company has secured funding from leading VC firms Charles River Ventures and Battery Ventures. For more information, visit www.ximian.com.

Ximian is a trademark 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.