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Press Release 


For Further Information Contact: 

Park, Sangkeun(skpark@hancom.com)/ Dept. of Planning & Marketing 

HancomLinux, Inc.(www.hancom.com/english) 

Tel: 2-3450-5254 Fax: 2-3450-5249 




Korea's Linux Software Provider Gearing up to Jump in Office Competition
with Release of English/Chinese/Japanese Version Linux Word Processor  

- Overseas Distributors to be Selected after Completion of Beta testing 


HancomLinux, Inc., a subsidiary of Haansoft which holds 80% of Korea's word
processor market, has completed development of a Linux version word
processor targeted on overseas markets and will kick off on sales this
month.  


The Chinese version "Wenjie" is still undergoing tests for supplying the
program to significant Linux PC corporations and has yet to select
distributors. Products for the general public will be shown for the first
time at Comdex China, scheduled to open on the 26th.  


Hancom is now engaged in preparative stages of building a consumer
information and education center in Beijing for local marketing and has
already started to distribute 3 hundred thousand packages to local tech
magazines for promotion. The Chinese version is divided into two versions;
version for users in mainland China, and version for users in Hong Kong and
Taiwan. The general users' version will also include a Windows version.  


"HancomWord," which has its target on English speaking regions, will begin
sales immediately after beta testing is completed. HancomWord is reported
to be particularly convenient in that the selection of various languages,
not only English or French, but also languages such as German, Greek,
Russian, Spanish, Japanese and many more is possible without the nuisance
of extra procedures. The company currently hold the beta testing event by
free downloading(http://www.hancom.com/english) prior to official
release. This new word processor is prospected to surface as a new
contestant in the Linux Office market with its compatibility with HTML,
text, and MS Word documents.  


The Japanese version will be under the name "Are-A Hangul 2000" and will be
exhibited at the Tokyo Linux Convention to be held next month.  


The successful porting of LinuxHangul from Windows Hangul, which has
undergone continuous improvement for the past 10 years, was made possible
by the successful application of the 'Wine' technology.  


Wine is a developing tool which facilitates the use of Windows application
programs in a Linux environment. This project has been openly operated with
Linux programmers from all over the world.  


HancomLinux has planned to seek overseas markets through cooperation with
local distributors and is reported to first finish development of programs
including spread sheet, graphics, presentation, etc. and then start seeking
new markets full scale with an competitive Office suite.  





About HancomLinux, Inc. 


HancomLinux is a subsidiary of Haansoft,Inc., Korea's largest PC Package
software provider which was established in 1989 and presently holds 83% of
the wordprocessing market. As a result of 1998's financial crisis,
Haansoft,Inc. was on the brink of acquisition by Microsoft, but was rescued
by a nation-wide campaign. HancomLinux was established in December of 1999
to take full charge of the Linux business sector of Haansoft.Inc. It
specializes in developing application programs enabling Linux to be used in
Office environments. Offices are located in Seoul, Korea and has 40
employees.