Now Software Signs Exclusive Agreement With Mariner Software.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2003

Manufacturer of #1 Best-Selling Calendar/Contact Application

Secures Rights with Word Processor and Spreadsheet Developer

Now Software, makers of Now Up-to-Date & Contact(R), the #1 best selling calendar and contact manager, and Mariner(R) Software, Inc., a leader in productivity software, today announced an agreement giving Now Software exclusive rights to market Mariner's word processing and spreadsheet applications to the North American education market. The deal gives buyers in primary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, exceptional pricing for two of the strongest yet most streamlined productivity solutions available for the Macintosh -- Mariner Write and Mariner Calc(TM). The products are available immediately through Now Software's education sales division.

Mariner Software has gained a solid foothold in the word processing and spreadsheet categories due to the company's philosophy of offering software with high usability at an affordable price. Mariner Write and Mariner Calc offer roughly 80% of the features of Microsoft Word and Excel, but at only 25% of the price.

"Mariner Write and Mariner Calc are ideal solutions for the education market, especially with institutional budgets as tight as they are today," said Michael Wray, President of Mariner Software. "Both are easy to use and feature rich. The only trade-off that users make is they can buy 4 copies of Mariner Write and Mariner Calc for what they'd pay for one copy of Microsoft Office."

"This agreement gives our academic customers a terrific alternative to the very expensive Microsoft products," stated John Wallace, President of Now Software. "They get all of the word processing and spreadsheet features they need, including full Microsoft Word and Excel compatibility for less than they would pay to upgrade existing software. It's an exceptional value and much needed for schools today."

To date, Mariner Software customers include a number of high profile educational institutions worldwide. Its extensive and diverse base of users include Iowa State University, Finland's University of Turku, San Diego State University, and Tokyo Metropolitan High School.

Compatible, Full-Featured

Sporting elegant, easy-to-use interfaces, Mariner Write and Mariner Calc read Microsoft Word and Excel files as well as many other formats. Mariner Write and Mariner Calc are available in native Mac OS X and Classic Mac versions, enabling users to run the same application on old or new Macintosh machines -- a requirement for most educational institutions.

Among Mariner Write's many strengths is its support for multiple world languages plus Kanji and other international scripts. It offers a distinctive "cool blue" GUI that increases screen readability, plus it incorporates a wealth of productivity tools such as dynamic page scrolling, and 80,000+ word dictionary, automatic PDF document creation, and much more.

Mariner Calc also offers native international script support. A robust application for the analysis, simulation, and forecasting of numerical data, Mariner Calc offers a comprehensive selection of 140 professional-level built-in functions for computational and analytical tasks. Documents can be saved in SYLK for MS Excel, CSV (Comma-Separated Values), and various text formats.

In addition to its two individual products, Now Software offers MarinerPak, a bundle of Mariner Write and Mariner Calc. The bundle and separate products are available with special education pricing, including volume licensing. Mariner Software and Now Software anticipate the debut of the Windows PC version of Mariner Write later in 2003, with Mariner Calc for Windows early in 2004.

Sublicensing Rights Granted

In addition to its own marketing and distribution rights, Now Software's agreement with Mariner Software enables it to sublicense other companies to market and distribute to North American education customers.

Pricing and Availability

Education users may purchase these products directly from Now Software by calling 614-413-4000 x3074. Information about Mariner Write and Mariner Calc for education is available from Now Software at http://www.nowsoftware.com/mariner. Additional information about Now Software, Now Up-to-Date & Contact, and its other software products, can be found at http://www.nowsoftware.com.

About Now Software:

Based in New Albany, Ohio, Now Software is the developer of the Eddy Award-winning Now Up-to-Date & Contact, the world's number one best-selling Personal Information Management (PIM) solution for the Macintosh operating system. Recently expanded in a Windows-compatible version, Now Up-to-Date & Contact has consistently garnered the industry's highest accolades. Now Software is a division of Power On Software, a leading provider of utility and business productivity software founded in 1993. Power On Software (www.poweronsoftware.com) is an Inc. 500 company. For more information about Now Software, visit www.nowsoftware.com or call 1-614-413-4000.

About Mariner Software:

Mariner Software, Inc., developers of the industry-recognized products, Mariner Write and Mariner Calc, has established itself as one of the leaders in business, consumer, and educational productivity software for the Macintosh. With customers worldwide, Mariner Software is committed to delivering the highest quality software, with an emphasis on total customer satisfaction. For more information, please visit the Mariner Software web site at www.marinersoftware.com.

(c) Now Software, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved. Now Up-to-Date and Now Contact are registered trademarks of Power On Software, Inc. Mariner Write and Mariner are registered trademarks of Mariner Software, Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.