Broderbund Grows Its 3D Home Family With New Landscape Software: 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NOVATO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2002

With More than 7,500 Plants to Choose from and Hundreds of

Illustrations and Tutorials, It's Easy for Anyone to

Create & Maintain Their Dream Landscape

Spring will look a whole lot brighter to gardeners this year, thanks to Broderbund's new 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0. Published by Broderbund, the leader in home productivity software, 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 is packed with easy-to-use features that will help everyone from novice gardeners to landscaping veterans visualize their landscape ideas and projects before breaking ground.

3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 is a complete landscape resource with powerful features and extensive libraries. Users can easily start from scratch or use any of the more than 30 pre-designed garden plans to begin their landscaping project. Choose from 7,500 species of plants within the powerful plant encyclopedia, each with full-color photos and detailed information on growth zones, sun exposure, soil concerns and more.

"3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 gives homeowners access to powerful tools and reference information that at one time only professional landscape designers had," said Eric Winkler, Broderbund's vice president of marketing. "This new landscape product lives up to the reputation that this line has earned as the tools more people choose when they use their computer to visualize their home improvement dreams.

At any point in the design process, the user can instantly render his garden in 3D, giving a "real world" view of his landscape creation. Users can visualize their landscape plans in different seasons and even adjust the age of the plants to see how their gardens will look in the years ahead.

As any gardener knows, maintaining the yard after installation is critical. 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 provides more than 600 illustrations that provide details on the symptoms and solutions for common plant problems. To keep plants looking their best, the program offers a monthly plant care calendar and 100 plant care demonstrations.

Availability

3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 is available at major retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $39.99.

System Requirements 

3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 requires Microsoft(R) Windows 95 or later, Windows(R) NT 4.0 (Intel)(R) Service Pack 3 or later, Windows(R) 2000 Professional (build 2031 or later), Windows(R) XP (RC2 or later), administrative privileges (on Windows NT, Window 2000 Professional or Windows XP) in order to update system files, Pentium-class PC (300 MHZ or higher recommended), 64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended), 100 MB of free hard-disk space during setup, 50MB after set up, CD-ROM drive, Video card with OpenGL driver and at least 8MB RAM, Super VGA monitor (screen resolution at least 800x600, small fonts setting), MS Windows pointing devise required (mouse), Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01 or higher. 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 works with most printers (monochrome and color) supported by Windows. 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 may require minor adjustments to the configuration of your operating system and/or updates to the hardware component drivers.

About Broderbund

Broderbund is the leader in home productivity software. Its brands, including The Print Shop, PrintMaster, Family Tree Maker and Extreme Media Digital Studio, are category leaders. Broderbund's flagship brand, The Print Shop, has sold more than 17 million units since its introduction in 1984. The company has more than 40 million+ customers in homes, businesses and schools worldwide.

Broderbund operates broderbund.com, the company's award-winning website, which is visited by more than 1.5 million people every month. It offers greetings, photo albums, more than one million graphics and other products and services.

Broderbund LLC is owned by an affiliate of Gores Technology Group, a privately held international acquisition and management firm that pursues an aggressive strategy of acquiring promising high technology organizations and managing them for growth and profitability. More information about Broderbund and its products can be found at www.broderbund.com

Note to Editors: Broderbund and the Broderbund logo are trademarks of Broderbund Properties LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. (c) 2001 Broderbund Properties LLC. All rights reserved.