OpenOffice.org Office Suite Available for Use on Any U3 Smart Drive; U3 to Release Framework for Open Source Development on U3 Platform

Business Wire, Jan 4, 2006

LAS VEGAS -- U3(TM) LLC today reaffirmed its commitment to providing consumers a way to carry and access their office documents on any computer with the release of U3 smart versions of OpenOffice.org's popular suite of office productivity software. Users can now edit and view their Office documents, presentations and charts on any computer whether or not Microsoft Office is installed. OpenOffice is the third open source software title available for download to any U3 smart drive through the U3 Software Central download site, joining Mozilla Firefox Web browser 1.5 and Thunderbird e-mail client. Furthering its support for open source software, U3 also announced that it will release a framework for open source development on the U3 platform.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is an open source office suite that is fully compatible with a variety of computing platforms and office applications, including Microsoft Office. It uses the Open Document format, an XML-based file format for office applications, allowing U3 users to carry all the necessary productivity tools they use such as a word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation manager on their U3 smart drives. The Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail client from the Mozilla Foundation are designed to promote choice and innovation on the Internet. The portable versions of these popular applications can be upgraded through Mozilla's standard updates even once they are on a U3 smart drive.

"We recognize the growing popularity of open source solutions for consumers, and are pleased to offer them for use on U3 smart drives," said Kate Purmal, chief executive officer of U3. "We're extending our support for the open source community by making it easier for open source developers to bring their products to the U3 smart drive computing platform."

Open Source software has an open source code model which allows it to be freely modified and improved upon. For U3 this means faster availability and updating of software, benefiting consumers and developers alike. The importance of creating an opportunity for developers to build applications without the constraints of a closed system has been acknowledged through growing industry support. Facilitating open source application development for U3 smart software titles offers developers a broadened means to distribute their software. Consumers enjoy completely portable versions of many of the software titles they have been constrained to use on only one PC.

Mozilla Firefox for U3 and OpenOffice.org for U3 are based on the open source Portable Firefox and Portable OpenOffice.org projects. These projects contain ideas and code contributed by John Haller at www.portableapps.com and several individuals within the open source community and build on the work of the popular Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice.org open source projects.

U3 Smart Drives

U3 smart drives are easily recognizable by the U3 smart logo and are available from leading brands worldwide. In the U.S., U3 smart drives can be found in consumer electronics and office supply stores from BestBuy Geek Squad(R), Kingston(R)Technology Company, Memorex, SanDisk(R) and Verbatim(R). In Europe, U3 smart drives are available from Clever-Stuff disgo classic and Clever-Stuff busbi, Data Storage Advisors disk2go(R), Intuix, Kingston, Memorex, SanDisk and Verbatim. Taiwanese hardware partners PQI and Twin MOS and I-O DATA in Japan will begin shipping U3 smart drives this year.

About U3

U3 LLC of Redwood City, Calif., has developed an innovative platform to make USB smart drives that host a "personal workspace" -- not only data and files, but software programs, personal user preferences and the means for managing them. U3 powered smart drives transform a PC into a truly personalized computer, quickly, easily and securely, and exit transparently when done. U3, backed by USB flash drive market leaders M-Systems (NASDAQ:FLSH) and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), licenses its platform to USB drive manufacturers. For more information see www.U3.com.