IBM Sponsors EarthWeb's Open Source Software Exhibition and Conference

The Bazaar Wins Support From Industry Leaders, Companies & Development Groups

Keynote Presentation by Ralph Nader

GNU/Linux and Apache Featured Topics

NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 1999 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthWeb (Nasdaq: EWBX) announced today that IBM (NYSE: IBM) has become a platinum sponsor and cornerstone partner of The Bazaar, a three day Open Source Software conference and exhibition in New York City beginning on December 14, 1999. EarthWeb's Bazaar is designed to be a comprehensive forum featuring over 30 hands-on workshops, more than 50 conference sessions, featured keynote and panel presentations by the leaders of the Open Source movement, and over 45,000 square feet of vendor and project exhibits at the Javits Convention Center. IBM will also host a private holiday shopping event at FAO Schwartz for all conference attendees.

"For the $50 per person conference cost, The Bazaar can take the mystery out of the free software landscape," said Michael Healy, Director of Events and Conferences at EarthWeb. "At the exhibition and conference, attendees can learn how free and open source software fits into their technology strategy."

"Open Source Software has become a mission critical movement that has the potential to turn the software industry in the right direction -- open and free," said Robert Young, CEO of Red Hat Incorporated.

The Bazaar will provide a comprehensive overview of Open Source Software for users and IT professionals through an interactive environment that includes such track sessions as System Integration, Network Administration, Developer, GNU/Linux, Internet and Enterprise. Tutorials will feature topics that include the Apache Web Server, GNU/Linux in a Corporate Environment, Enterprise Email Solutions, Free BSD Platform, Perl Scripting Language and others.

"With the number of industry leaders, companies and development groups supporting Bazaar, I expect this event will encourage the adoption of Open Source Software by many major corporations and institutions," said Steve Blood, founder of In Limine, a non-profit organization that promotes education of free software.

Keynote presentations at The Bazaar are currently planned to be made by these leaders of the Open Source community: Jeff Bates and Rob Malda of slashdot; Michael Cowpland, CEO of Corel Corporation; Chris Dibona, co editor of Open Sources; Jon "Maddog" Hall, Executive Director of Linux International; Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate; Richard Stallman, founder of Free Software Foundation; Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond, advocates of free software, and Bob Young, CEO of Red Hat Software.

About the Open Source Movement

With Apache running over half of the world's Websites (NetCraft), and GNU/Linux servers amounting to over 750,000 at last count (IDC), these and other Open Source technologies are of crucial importance not to just programmers but to system administrators and corporate management. Many major software and hardware companies have announced support for Open Source products.

About The Bazaar

The Bazaar is a unique collaboration between EarthWeb and In Limine, Inc., a non-profit organization that was formed to create an educational free software event for corporations, schools and non-profit institutions. Co-sponsors of The Bazaar include: Andover.net, ASL Workstations, Atipa Linux Solutions, CopyLeft, Corel, Coriolis, DiaLogos, dice.com, EarthWeb, IBM, Linux Mall, Mission Critical, OpenSales, Pangolin, Red Hat, Sleepy Cat and Technology Managers Forum. This year's event will be held in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center beginning on December 14th. Additional event details and registration forms can be found at their website ( www.thebazaar.org ).

About EarthWeb

EarthWeb Inc. ( www.earthweb.com )(Nasdaq: EWBX) is the leading provider of business-to-business online services to the global IT industry. Through its flagship services, earthweb.com, developer.com, datamation.com, dice.com, Supportsource.com and ITKnowledge.com, and its other integrated business-to-business online services, EarthWeb connects buyers to sellers, employers to employees, vendors to customers and technical professionals to a wealth of expert knowledge. EarthWeb was recently ranked the third-fastest growing company within Business Week's Info Tech 100. The Info Tech 100, which includes such industry leaders as Dell Computer and Cisco Systems, is Business Week's list of "the builders of the new economy."

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