About Version 2.0 Macintosh, Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- March 24, 1993 -- Claris Corporation today announced that ClarisWorks 2.0, the complete productivity solution for business, education and home, is shipping and now available at authorized Claris resellers in the U.S. ClarisWorks 2.0 extends the lead of the #1-selling Mac "Works" program with clearly superior integration and ease of use, and more functionality than any other Mac integrated product.

ClarisWorks adds three completely new capabilities to the program and more than 300 productivity enhancements to the existing environments. In addition, push-button Shortcuts make ClarisWorks 2.0 even easier to use than the original award-winning version. And users of PowerBooks and lower-end Macintosh computers will find that compactness and speed have not been compromised: at under 600K, the application is still the smallest in the integrated category and as fast as ever.

Beta Testers Praise ClarisWorks 2.0
Early users of ClarisWorks 2.0 praised the product's unique integration and extensive new capabilities. "ClarisWorks is a great value for its price," said Michael Cohen, a producer at the Voyager Company in Santa Monica, Calif. "It's incredible that there's so much power in a program that takes up less than a megabyte!"

John Hindle, member of the Carleton Board of Education in Nepean, Ontario, said, "The ease of use, transparency of integration and depth of each of the new components in ClarisWorks 2.0 combine to make this software the premier integrated package on the market. There is no equal."

Bill Bowden uses ClarisWorks 2.0 on a range of Macintosh computers including powerful Mac IIfx systems and low-end Mac SE and PowerBook computers at the British Columbia Automobile Association in Burnaby, BC. "For tracking travel customers and organizing mailing lists, ClarisWorks 2.0 is ideal. Its new features give you more options, yet the program is simple to use -- any level of computer user can operate it," said Bowden.

"It was love at first sight," for Frank Short, computer services coordinator for the Ossinging Union School District in New York. "ClarisWorks 2.0 is ideal for the 250 middle school students in our district who use computers in the classroom. It is a much richer product than Microsoft Works. And because all the components are on one page, it is easier to use and easier to train others on. ClarisWorks 2.0 is the only product I need," said Short.

For editor Lou Flemal, new word processing features and painting capabilities in ClarisWorks 2.0 make it simple to create his Scuba Diving Club newsletter. "Text wrap and improved tab and column controls turn the word processor into a user-friendly page-layout program. And thanks to the new painting capabilities, I don't have to leave ClarisWorks to edit the graphics that will be inserted into my newsletter," said Flemal.

Dave Kile, president of Alpha Technologies Group in Marriottsville, MD, produces and distributes a software movie collection called "ClipTime" to the educational community. "ClarisWorks 2.0 really packs a powerful punch for education customers who want to integrate slide show presentation capabilities into the classroom," said Kile. "ClarisWorks 2.0 allows me to demonstrate my product easily and take advantage of its sophisticated functions for a very reasonable price -- with no technical hassles."

Key Enhancements
ClarisWorks 2.0 includes new outlining, presentation slide show and painting capabilities to address the day-to-day demands of most generalist computer users who produce a range of documents and need to manage information. It also boasts enhancements to all of the original environments: word processing, spreadsheet, charting, database, graphics and communications.

Automatic text wrap around graphics enables users to create more professional-looking newsletters, brochures and flyers. Custom text styles, expanded spell check selection and show/hide invisibles speed word processing tasks.

Users now have 12 chart type options including combination and pictogram to translate data into compelling charts. Additional new spreadsheet capabilities include text wrap in a cell for producing professional tables and a lock title option.

New automatic database field entry and validation options eliminate repetitive keystrokes and ensure database accuracy and consistency. Support for more than 50 predefined Avery label formats makes it simple to create mailing labels.

Bezier curves and 32 gradient fills add to the array of powerful graphics tools. Expanded communications capabilities such as Kermit file transfer support let users modem documents anywhere. ClarisWorks 2.0 also supports System 7 features including Publish and Subscribe and Balloon Help.

ClarisWorks 2.0 also features a new Shortcuts option that offers users unique push-button access to frequently-used commands. Users can perform 150 tasks from spell checking to formatting spreadsheet cells by simply clicking an icon from the floating, dockable Shortcuts palette.

Pricing Information
The price of ClarisWorks 2.0 remains unchanged from the original version. In the U.S., the suggested retail price is $299. Upgrades from ClarisWorks 1.0 are $99. A $129 competitive trade-up price is also being offered through Sept. 30, 1993.