NEW YORK, NY — (company press release) — Lineo, Inc., a leading developer of embedded Linux system software, and Everybook Inc., the developer of the world's first true electronic book, announced today the agreement to provide the Lineo Embedix Linux operating system and Embedix Browser for use in the EB Dedicated Reader.

Everybook's patented EB Dedicated Reader, an electronic reading device designed for use with the Everybook Store, uses existing print files from publishers. Customers are able to purchase and download digital books and magazines from the Everybook Store.

“Today's consumers demand speed, reliability, stability and high-performance,” says Michael Ragan, Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer. “Only Linux can provide those efficiencies in a footprint of less than 10 megabytes. Linux is becoming the platform of choice, particularly in the E-commerce and ISP market”

Everybook is building a reading platform and ecommerce business around standard hardware, widely-accepted document-based encryption and the most popular file format in the entire publishing industry. By adopting PDF, the choice of the majority of publishers and most US Government agencies, EB users can be assured that books they buy from the Everybook Store will never become obsolete or unreadable. By using “off-the-shelf” hardware to build its platform and making the storage and communications removable and updateable, Everybook ensures a lifetime of browsing, buying, and reading books.

“Because consumers are on the road more often than ever before, there is a great need to access research materials and resources that are convenient to use and inexpensive to purchase, whether you are on a plane, at a business meeting, or sitting in the comfort of your own office,” said Bryan Sparks, CEO of Lineo, Inc. “The Embedix-based Dedicated Reader allows consumers and professionals like physicians and pharmacists, to find the information they need without having to go to their offices or a medical library.”

Everybook is the first eBook company to embrace an open source solution. The agreement provides an initial 55,000 licenses of Lineo Embedix Linux and Lineo Embedix Browser. The Everybook Store and the EB Dedicated Reader are slated to launch in the summer of 2000.

About Lineo, Inc. (www.lineo.com)

Lineo, Inc. develops, markets and sells embedded Linux system software and applications that provide OEMs and consumers with simple, low-cost software for interacting with the Internet via embedded devices. Lineo owns the Embedix product family including Embedix Linux, Embedix SDK and Embedix Browser. Lineo also owns DR DOS, a component-based embedded OS, and other technologies designed to improve connectivity while reducing system requirements and per-unit costs.

About Everybook Inc. (www.everybook.net)

Everybook Inc., founded in 1995, has created an e-commerce solution for the publishing world: providing digital content via the Web to the world's first true electronic book. Everybook Inc. holds U.S., Canadian and Australian patents on the EB Dedicated Reader, the only two-screen, facing portrait-page electronic book system. The Everybook patent is pending in over 30 other countries including Brazil, China, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, the Russian Federation and member countries of the European Union.

 
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