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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bill Gribble Linux Developers Group, Inc. (512) 851-8731 grib@linuxdevel.com Global Retail Technology, LLC and Linux Developers Group, Inc. Announce OpenCheckout Joint Venture Will Develop Open Source Point-Of-Sale (POS) Solutions Based on Java, Linux AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Oct. 3, 2001 Global Retail Technology and Linux Developers Group today announced the launch of OpenCheckout, a joint venture which will build complete Point of Sale (POS) solutions based on open source software components. The first product of the venture will be OpenCheckout Retail Suite, an integrated point-of-sale, back office, and cash management solution. OpenCheckout Retail Suite will combine Global Retail's Mercator POS, a sophisticated and configurable open-source POS front end, with Linux Developers Group's GNC Components accounting/back-office software to provide complete point-of-sale, inventory tracking, employee tracking, and POS reconciliation functionality. "Mercator POS is a mature, open-source POS application," said Global Retail Technology CEO Quentin Olson. "It is positioned to break open a market that is largely dominated by closed, proprietary systems. Combining it with back office and cash management functions from Linux Developers Group's GNC Components will allow us to provide a complete systems solution for small and enterprise retailers." Written in Java and using the JavaPOS retail peripheral standard, Mercator has been under development by Global Retail Technology for three years and has been an open-source project since May, 2001. Mercator provides complete POS front-end functionality, including sophisticated inventory management, customizable user interface, stand-alone or networked operation, per-employee auditing, and advanced data replication and fault tolerance capability. JavaPOS is a standard software environment developed by IBM which allows compliant devices to be used easily from Java software. GNC Components is a modularized and enhanced version of the accounting technology in GnuCash, the most popular and functional personal accounting program for the Linux operating system. Financial logic, data storage, user interface, and reporting/analysis routines are independent components which can be combined to fit the needs of a particular application. Linux Developers Group, the corporate sponsor of GnuCash development, has developed the GNC Components to bring powerful open-source accounting tools to businesses from small-scale to enterprise-scale. The GNC Components architecture provides flexible financial reporting, multiuser networked operation, sophisticated PostgreSQL database backend, and a powerful transaction query engine. Special-purpose POS extensions, including end-of-day cash reconciliation, client-server extensions for use with thin-client POS installs, and redundant data-storage modules, are under development. "We are very excited to be working with Global Retail Technology," said Linux Developers Group CEO Bill Gribble. "The GNC Components are the best open-source accounting toolset around and Mercator is the most mature and functional open-source point of sale system. It's a perfect match. We think the time is right for an open-source POS solution to shake up the marketplace a little. Companies around the world have learned to trust their mission-critical Internet services to Linux; trusting their day-to-day financials to Linux is the next step. With no per-seat license fees, we can provide our customers with a customized enterprise-class POS solution at a fraction of the cost of those offered by the established vendors. What they would have spent on license fees can be used instead to customize the package to the precise needs of the business." The OpenCheckout Retail Suite will be released in the first quarter of 2002. No pricing has been announced for the product or associated services. The joint venture will offer a full range of consulting, customization, installation, and support services for individual retail outlets, retail chains, and systems integrators. ABOUT LINUX DEVELOPERS GROUP, INC Linux Developers Group, Inc. is a software development and consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. It develops custom software and turnkey solutions for e-business, finance, and retail applications. Linux Developers Group, Inc was founded in May 2001 by CEO Bill Gribble and a group of private investors. For more information, see the Linux Developers Group web site, http://www.linuxdevel.com. The LDG development staff is the core of the GnuCash development team. GnuCash is the leading personal accounting program for the Linux operating system. For more information about GnuCash, see the GnuCash web site: http://www.gnucash.org. ABOUT GLOBAL RETAIL TECHNOLOGY, LLC Global Retail Technology, LLC, provides custom software and consulting services for the retail industry. It was founded in 1995 by CEO Quentin Olson. It is a privately-held company based in Seattle, Washington. Quentin Olson has been developing retail business software for various enterprises since the early 1990s. Worldwide, his software is a part of tens of thousands of installed point of sale systems. For more information, see the Global Retail Technology website, http://www.globalretailtech.com.