COSTA MESA, Calif., (July 12, 1999) - Canon Software Publishing (CSP), a division of Canon Computer Systems, Inc., today introduced a new line of affordable software titles. The Canon value line of personal productivity software includes family-oriented project creators and photo editing software as well as clipart and font collections. Designed for users of sub-$999 personal computers, the Canon value titles provide quality software to new users of personal computers at a budget-friendly price.

The market for value software titles (defined as having a street pricebelow $15) was $72 million in 1998, according to PC Data, with a few companies accounting for most of these sales.

"Affordable software is being sold in an increasing variety of places," said David Derse, director of sales for CSP. "Mass merchants like Walmart, K-Mart and Target are now selling software and even grocery and drug stores have started offering a limited selection of software titles. As this trend continues, Canon plans to offer its value titles through the widest distribution channels available."

Titles in the new value collection include:

• Calendar maker - create personalized weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly calendars as well as diaries.
• T-Shirt design maker - includes designs, fonts, photos and clipart to make fun fabric creations. Holiday Card Maker - design creative cards for the holiday season to print or e-mail to friends and family (available in October).
• PhotoFX2 - provides easy photo manipulation and creates Web-ready art. PhotoFX2 also includes a picture browser to make finding graphics easier and screen capture utility.
• Power Text3D - offers complete control over the appearance of text in a document. Power Text3D can customize a headline or block of text by color, direction of gradient fills, highlight intensity and source, angle of view, shadow intensity and skew, kerning and leading.
• 100,000 WebArt - use this collection of GIF images to illuminate Web sites and dazzle audiences. This title includes buttons, arrows, icons, bullets, animated GIFs and more.
• 10,000 Clipart - over 70 artists have contributed to this collection of superb quality vector clipart that can be re-colored and re-sized. This collection includes a free picture browser to make finding graphics easier.
• 5000 Sniparts - images and fonts including clipart, textures, borders and photos. This collection includes a free picture browser for easier searching of graphics files.
• 1000 Professional fonts - this essential collection of fonts designed by top typographers also includes a font manager.
• 500 Elegant fonts - add a touch of class to documents with this collection of TrueType fonts designed by professionals. This software also includes a font manager.
• 500 Fantastic fonts - fun, fantasy and futuristic fonts from top typographical designers. This software also includes a font manager.

Special holiday multi-packs of Canon's value software titles will also be available. These budget-friendly bundles of useful software programs will help families take advantage of the low-cost hardware on today's computer market such as sub-$999 computer systems and increasingly affordable color printers and scanners.

Pricing & Availability

Canon value software titles will be available at retail for around $14.95* each. Two productivity bundle packages will also be available in October. Cards, Crafts, Calendars and More!, will contain Holiday Card Maker, T-shirt Design Maker, Calendar Maker and 5,000 Sniparts. The bundle will be available at retail in August for around $19.99*. A second productivity bundle containing Holiday Card Maker, T-shirt Design Maker, Calendar Maker, 5,000 Sniparts and Photo FX2 will be available for around $29.99* under the same name.

Customer Service and Customer Technical Support

Canon Software Publishing offers a full range of customer technical support options: e-mail and Web Site (FAQ's) via the CSP Web site at www.software.canon.com. Customers can call (757) 413-2857 for 24 hour, 7 day-a-week automated or fax-back support or to talk with a customer care technician (8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday - Friday, EST). Regular customer support is free of service charges for the first 30 days after purchase. After 30 days, paid support is available.

About Canon Software Publishing

Canon Software Publishing (CSP) is a division of Canon Computer Systems Inc., which is a subsidiary of both Canon USA Inc. (Lake Success, NY) and Canon Inc. (Tokyo, Japan). The division, headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., was founded in 1998 to develop, publish and distribute computer software primarily in North and South America. CSP will also publish titles from both independent third-party developers and associated Canon companies. Canon is recognized as the world's leading imaging technology company, a leader in printer technology and a top worldwide patent holder. As a global technology leader, Canon achieved $24 billion in worldwide sales in 1998.

*Prices are estimates only. Dealer prices may vary and are subject to change at any time.

Canon is a registered trademark of Canon, Inc. All other products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Product specifications and features subject to change without notice.