FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MACTECH AND NETPROFESSIONAL MAGAZINES TEAM UP

New Publication Delivers Expanded Technical Coverage

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.,-- July 12, 1999 -- Xplain Corporation today
announced that it has merged MacTech Magazine with NetProfessional
magazine -- creating expanded coverage of Macintosh technology and
development.

Commencing with its July issue, Xplain will deliver NetProfessional
type content in an expanded MacTech Magazine catering to developers
of all types. MacTech can now be described as "the journal of
Macintosh technology and development" -- and now will reach an even
larger reader audience.

Now in its 15th year, the types of articles that MacTech readers have
come to love will continue untouched. The new publication will
include additional pages covering web and content development,
network administration, and other Macintosh technical topics. MacTech
will now be brought to you by not only the entire MacTech staff, but
also much of the NetProfessional editorial board.

Former readers of NetProfessional will receive one issue of MacTech
for each issue remaining on their subscriptions. Those who were
already MacTech readers, will have extra copies added on to the end
of their MacTech subscription. Questions should be sent to
custservice@mactech.com

"The combination of these two publications, topic sets, staff and
editorial board will give the community an incredible resource." said
Neil Ticktin, publisher of MacTech. "We hope this helps all of our
readers to review the possibilities of what they can do, pushing the
envelope, and making the Mac the best platform out there. It is
truly a case in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

"With the growing popularity of Web-based applications and
penetration of Internet technologies into virtually ever corner of
the software industry, it makes perfect sense to further
'Internet-enable' MacTech editorial with articles previously targeted
toward Internet professionals," said Bill Doerrfeld, president and
CEO of Blue World Communications, Inc. "As a charter advertiser of
the former NetProfessional magazine, we're pleased to see Xplain
Corp. respond to convergence in the software industry and provide
further value to its MacTech magazine readers and sponsors."

"As a long time reader, I will be very happy to see the Internet
technology components of NetProfessional merged in to my favorite
magazine, MacTech." said Peter N Lewis, Founder & CEO, Stairways
Software Pty Ltd

Established in 1984 as a forum for programmers and developers,
MacTech magazine has evolved into a premier news and information
vehicle targeted at tens of thousands of developers in over sixty
countries. In addition to the new web, networking and content
coverage, MacTech continues to include several regular columns,
industry news, conference reports, product reviews, a broad range of
languages and environments, the latest in shortcuts and insider
secrets, advertisements specifically for Macintosh techies, and full
source code listings available on the World Wide Web, floppy disk,
and CD-ROM.

Xplain Corporation Background

Xplain Corporation has three divisions -- publishing, mail order and
custom services. The publishing division includes MacTech(r) Magazine
(http://www.mactech.com/), and THINK Reference(tm). The mail order
division operates DevDepot(r) (http://www.devdepot.com/),
Depot Store(sm), and the Depot(sm). Custom services provides custom
publishing and trade show services including such projects as
Developer Central(tm) and fulfillment services. Founded in 1984, the
company has its offices in Westlake Village, California. For more
information on Xplain Corporation or any of its products/services,
point your browser to (http://www.xplain.com/), call the main offices
at 805-494-9797, fax at 805-494-9798, send an e-mail to
mailto:info@xplain.com, or overland mail to PO Box 5200, Westlake
Village, CA 91359-5200, USA.

Press Contacts:
Nick DeMello
MacTech Magazine
(805) 494-9797
email: editor@mactech.com

All contents are Copyright 1984-1999 by Xplain Corporation. All
rights reserved.

MacTech, DevDepot, and Sprocket are registered trademarks of
Xplain Corporation. Xplain, Depot, The Depot, Depot Store, Video
Depot, Movie Depot, Palm Depot, Explain It, MacDev-1, THINK
Reference, NetProfessional, NetProLive, JavaTech, WebTech, BeTech,
and the MacTutorMan are trademarks of Xplain Corporation. Apple, the
Apple logo, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, Developer Central and
PowerBook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Other
trademarks and copyrights appearing in this printing or software
remain the property of their respective holders.