Red Hat and Metrowerks Deliver Mainstream Development Tools for Linux; Red Hat Linux Positioned for Next Wave of Growth

Business Wire, March 29, 1999

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C, and AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- March 29, 1999--Red Hat(R) Software Inc., the leading provider of Linux software and expertise, and Metrowerks Inc. (NASDAQ:MTWKF) (TSE:MWK), a leading supplier of software development tools for telecom, desktop, embedded systems and consumer electronics, announced today that CodeWarrior(R) software development tools have been ported to the Red Hat Linux operating system.

This agreement to bring commercial development tools to Linux is the latest in a series of applications that enhance the viability of the Linux OS.

"Our work with Metrowerks helps to accelerate the adoption of Linux in the enterprise market," said Bob Young, CEO, Red Hat Software. "By making CodeWarrior's user-friendly development tools available, we will attract a broad base of software developers writing applications for the Red Hat platform."

An Industry First

Metrowerks' CodeWarrior is the first widely used, commercially available Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to be ported to Red Hat Linux. This comprehensive and integrated set of tools includes editors, browsers, project management facilities, compilers, debuggers and other development tools within a powerful and easy-to-use graphical development environment.

The increased productivity provided by the CodeWarrior IDE reduces the time-to-market for all developers of third party applications. Those developers already using CodeWarrior on other platforms can adopt Red Hat Linux as their new platform without needing to learn a new tool set.

"Red Hat Software has been a leader in open source software solutions. The combination of Red Hat and CodeWarrior responds to the demand from the developer community for mainstream, commercial software development tools for Red Hat Linux," said Jean Belanger, chairman and CEO, Metrowerks.

One veteran user of CodeWarrior technology at National Instruments, Rob Dye, noted the importance of the combination of CodeWarrior with Linux: "As a longtime CodeWarrior user, I'm looking forward to having CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux. We recently released LabVIEW for Linux, and see Linux as an increasingly important platform. CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux will be a welcome addition to our toolset."

Pricing and Availability

The companies will release two separate products. CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux, GNU Edition, targets native Linux applications development using the CodeWarrior IDE and the GNU compiler and debugger technology. CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux, Professional Edition, will support Linux development using integrated compilers and debuggers from Metrowerks.

Orders are being taken today for the initial release of CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux, GNU Edition, which will begin shipping in May. Priced at US$99, the product will include the CodeWarrior IDE using a GNU compiler and debugger. Orders may be placed via the Metrowerks Web site at www.metrowerks.com, by phone to Metrowerks at 800/377-5416, or by email to sales@metrowerks.com. For pricing and availability outside the USA, please email intlsls@metrowerks.com. Distributors and resellers are listed on www.metrowerks.com/buy.> CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux, Professional Edition, will become available during the fourth calendar quarter of 1999. This advanced product, priced at US$449, includes integrated compilers and debuggers from Metrowerks for C, C and Java.

The companies have entered into a distribution agreement by which Red Hat Software will provide CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux on a standalone basis, and will bundle and distribute CodeWarrior for Red Hat Linux with the Red Hat version of the Linux operating system. Product support will be available from Metrowerks.

About Linux

Linux is the cooperatively developed POSIX-oriented, multi-user, multi-tasking operating system used worldwide. Linux benefits from a worldwide community of highly experienced programmers and technically savvy academics who have the access to enhance and improve the system. Linux is used as an exceptional-value, fully functional UNIX workstation for Internet servers and other applications.

About Red Hat Software, Inc.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat Software is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., where it is a leader in the development of open source-operating software solutions. Red Hat Development builds the most accessible and advanced operating system available anywhere with technical innovations such as RPM Package Manager and the disk druid installation tool. Red Hat Linux is available for Intel, Alpha and Sun SPARC platforms. Red Hat Linux was named InfoWorld's Product of the Year for three years in a row, was given a Productivity accolade in Software Development's "Jolt" Awards, was named an Environment/Desktop finalist in the Ziff-Davis European Excellence Awards, won the editor's choice awards from both the Linux Journal and Australian Personal Computing magazines, and won the "Just Plain Cool" award from Australian Personal Computing magazine.

About Metrowerks