Press Releases

Tarantella Licenses Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol

Agreement with Microsoft Cements Tarantella's Position as Leading Provider of Web-enabling Software for the Enterprise

Santa Cruz, CA (October 24, 2000) -Tarantella, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOC), today announced an agreement with Microsoft Corp. that further strengthens Tarantella products as powerful web-enabling software for the enterprise. The agreement calls for Tarantella, Inc. to license Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) technologies, the increasingly popular protocol for remote access of Windows-based applications. Licensing RDP closely aligns Tarantella with Microsoft, allowing the company to provide organizations with the most efficient solution for web-enabling Windows-based applications.

"RDP is Microsoft's built-in protocol for remote access to Windows-based applications running on a Windows Terminal Server, and licensing RDP allows Tarantella to deliver Windows-based applications to a wide variety of client desktops," said David Hamilton, group product manager of Management Technologies at Microsoft. "We are pleased to see Tarantella support RDP through this important agreement."

Mike Orr, president of Tarantella, Inc. added, "Now, Tarantella customers can be assured that they will quickly have access to the latest Microsoft features and product enhancements. Tarantella software is rapidly gaining recognition in organizations around the world as an immediate solution for providing web-based access to enterprise-class applications. This agreement with Microsoft sends customers a powerful signal that Tarantella is the right choice for today's Internet-based computing model."

"Aligning themselves with Microsoft and their protocols puts Tarantella, Inc. in a stronger position," said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president for system software research at IDC. "This agreement is a win-win situation for both companies. Tarantella software allows Microsoft to push their technology into new areas, such as organizations primarily using the UNIX operating system, providing these companies an easy way to use Microsoft technologies."

Tarantella, Inc. plans to include technology based on the Microsoft RDP standard into future releases of its Tarantella web-enabling software.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding new technologies and products. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation, increases and decreases in the value of investments, market acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products, general market conditions, and other risks detailed from time to time in SCO's SEC filings, including forms 10-Q and 10-K. SCO disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

About Tarantella, Inc.

Tarantella, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., provides web-enabling software technologies connecting clients, server-based applications, and networks. The Tarantella product line includes Tarantella Enterprise 3 for large companies and organizations, Tarantella Enterprise 3 ASP Edition for Application Service Providers, and Tarantella Express web-enabling software for workgroup and departmental environments. Tarantella products provide access to Microsoft Windows system, mainframe, AS/400, Linux and UNIX applications, and are available today for all popular RISC and Intel processor-based UNIX servers and selected Linux servers. For more information, see www.tarantella.com.

The Santa Cruz Operation, SCO, SCO OpenServer, UnixWare, Tarantella, Express, and the Tarantella logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. in the USA and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the US and other countries. Sun is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and is used under license. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the US and other countries. All other brand or product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.