PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information: Anthony Carrabino President/CEO Vista Software Voice: (858)729-0110 Email: anthonyc@vistasoftware.com ========================================================================== Apollo 6.0 Officially Released 15,000 man-hours invested in the new Apollo 6.0 making it the most thoroughly tested Apollo release ever -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LA JOLLA, Calif. – December 17th, 2001 – Vista Software today announced the official release of the much anticipated Apollo 6.0 database product line. Initially announced September 2000, the company went on to log over 15,000 man-hours over a 14 month period to deliver Apollo 6.0. "Apollo 6.0 is the result of hard work, intense focus and a commitment to excellence," stated Anthony Carrabino, President and CEO of Vista Software. "Our goal was to make Apollo 6.0 the most solid Apollo release ever. We opted to minimize new functionality and instead focus on fundamentally improving our products." The Apollo 6.0 release consists of Apollo ASP 6.0, Apollo OLE DB 6.0, Apollo Server 6.0, Apollo SQL and Apollo VCL. The Server, SQL and VCL products were formerly version 5.2 until the company decided to align all products as version 6.0. Two other products, Apollo COM 6.0 and Apollo Data Control 6.0 remain in beta. Features include improved data buffering, optimized memory usage, full collation support, greatly improved SQL performance (10x faster in some cases), new internationalization support for Duden and ETEC character sets, new compression engine, new client/server encryption, improved Server DLL support, improved help files, improved samples, and hundreds of minor optimizations and improvements throughout. According to several sources, this 6.0 version underwent the most exhaustive testing cycle of any Apollo release to date. Beta testers deployed Apollo 6 applications in live sites managing live data for over eight months. According to Carrabino, Beta testers were instrumental in getting all the kinks worked out. Carrabino went on to say that the beta testers made sure Vista's development team focussed on improving critical aspects of Apollo. Comments from Apollo 6.0 Beta Testers --------------------------------------- "We have been using Apollo in our applications for many years, even before Vista Software took Apollo over, but this is the most extensive Apollo beta cycle we've been part of. It was comforting to see so many active Apollo testers participate from all around the world. Messages from testers were posted on Vista Newsgroups at all hours of the day and the Vista team kept delivering fixes," commented Peter Grimshaw, President BTM Innovation Pty. Ltd. "Apollo 6 is by far the best version we've seen." "Congratulations on one of the longest and most careful beta cycles I've ever seen!," exclaimed Dan Kloke, Senior Developer, Synthetic Systems. "The willingness of the Vista Team to spend so long in ensuring a complete and reliable product family whilst at the same time providing extraordinary support to the Apollo community brings credit to each of them individually and collectively. The Apollo 6 release will be a new benchmark for the xBase community." stated Ian Branch, Workflow Software, Australia. Apollo 6 Pricing --------------------------------------- Apollo ASP 6.0 New 6.0: $429 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0: Free Apollo OLE DB 6.0 New 6.0: $429 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0: $129 Upgrade any version to 6.0: $279 Apollo Server 6.0 New 6.0 (2-User): Free Upgrade 5.x to 6.0 (2-User): Free New 6.0 (10-User): $429 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0 (10-User): $129 New 6.0 (Unlimited User): $979 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0 (Unlimited User): $529 Apollo SQL 6.0 New 6.0: $229 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0: Free Apollo VCL 6.0 New 6.0: $379 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0: Free, if purchased after May 1, 2001 Upgrade 5.x to 6.0: $129 until Jan. 31, 2002 (Regular $179) Upgrade any version to 6.0: $279 About Apollo --------------------------------------- Apollo data engines allow software developers to manage xBase data files such as FoxPro, CA-Clipper and HiPer-SIx flavors from Active Server Pages, Delphi, C++ and Visual Basic. Apollo is a self-contained data engine that does not require other data drivers such as ODBC. About Vista Software --------------------------------------- Founded in 1999, Vista Software (www.vistasoftware.com) is a privately owned California Corporation specializing in providing advanced database products to professionals using development tools from Microsoft, Borland, IBM, Computer Associates and other major vendors. Products include Apollo ASP, Apollo COM, Apollo OLE DB, Apollo Server, Apollo SQL, Apollo VCL, Artemis and the SIx Driver. Apollo database products are in use by over 100,000 developers, end-users and corporations worldwide. # # # References --------------------------------------- Peter Grimshaw: info@btmi.com.au Dan Kloke: dkloke@aol.com Ian Branch: branch@ancc.com.au