MasterSoft filters [was Re: Lee Hickling's questions]

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

≪ The filtering technology was licensed from MasterSoft, whose full product was called Word for Word. This
 technology was sold to Adobe, and I don't know what happened to the "full"
 product after that. Last week, Inso Corp. (where I work, but I didn't have
 anything to do with it) bought the filtering technology from Adobe. ≫

Wow, Tim. That's news. Soon as I read that I checked Yahoo.
Since the filters are near and dear to so many of us, I'm
posting the piece I found there. Adobe, btw, sold W4W as
Adobe File Utilities. 				--a

==================================== adpFisher  nyc


http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/97/02/05/adbe_inso_1.html

Wednesday February 5 7:30 AM EDT

Inso Corporation Acquires MasterSoft
Products From Adobe Systems

Companies Also Establish Technology
Cross-Licensing Arrangement

  BOSTON, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- http://biz.yahoo.com/news/inso.html today
announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the MasterSoft
line of products and related technologies from http://biz.yahoo.com/news/adbe.html for approximately $3 million in cash. The transaction is
expected to close within the week. These products and technologies support
electronic publishing-related file access, viewing and conversion technologies
and are distributed by more than 65 OEM licensees. MasterSoft came to Adobe
through its acquisition of Frame Technology in 1995. With the acquisition by
Inso, a majority of MasterSoft's 20-person technical staff will become Inso
employees and will form the basis of a new Inso technical development center
in Scottsdale, Arizona.

  Concurrently, Inso and Adobe have entered into related technology cross-
licensing agreements. Under the agreements, Adobe will license Inso certain
proprietary technology enabling Inso to more effectively support access to
files created with popular Adobe publishing tools, including Adobe Acrobat.
Inso is licensing Adobe access to its Outside In(R), ImageStream(R), and newly
acquired MasterSoft(R) file access, conversion, and viewing technologies for
use throughout Adobe's product line. Adobe will use these products to enhance
the file compatibility of its products.

  Steven R. Vana-Paxhia, Inso's President and Chief Executive Officer, said,
"The addition of the MasterSoft product line to the Inso organization is a
very positive development for our expanding base of OEM and corporate
customers. The MasterSoft and Inso technical teams are very enthusiastic
about collaborating to unify and advance Inso's existing file-related
electronic publishing solutions, while also working to accelerate new product
development in related areas. We are also very pleased to expand our OEM
licensing activity with Adobe Systems and appreciate Adobe's confidence in
Inso as a technology partner."

  "We've been incorporating Inso's filter technology in our popular
applications, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PageMaker and Adobe FrameMaker, for
some time now," said Dave Pratt, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer of Adobe Systems. "As a result of our cross license, Inso will help
broaden the Portable Document Format standard by providing OEM and end user
customers simple, fast, and reliable conversions to other existing and future
formats."

  As part of the agreement, Inso will now handle all technical and customer
support for the MasterSoft line of products. OEM customers should contact
Inso Scottsdale for support at 602-948-4888. End users who need support
should contact Inso's Service and Support Center at 312-527-4357.

  Inso will account for the acquisition as a purchase. The transaction
includes certain technology under research and development, which will be
written off with a one-time charge, estimated between $1.5 million and
$2 million, to Inso's consolidated 1997 first quarter earnings. Unaudited
revenues associated with the acquired products for fiscal year 1996 were
approximately $1.5 million. The acquisition is expected to be non-dilutive to
Inso's 1997 consolidated results before the one-time charge.

  Inso Corporation is a leading provider of multilingual software products
that help people create, access, and distribute electronic information in
environments ranging from computer desktops to the Internet. Inso's products
are designed to address the proofing, searching, and electronic publishing
markets worldwide. The Company markets its products to original equipment
manufacturers of computer hardware, software, and consumer electronics
products, as well as to major corporations, government agencies, and end
users. Additional information about Inso and its products is available on the
Company's home page at www.inso.com.

				###