http://www.installshield.com

Installation Leader Announces Planned Integration with

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., March 21, 2002 – InstallShield® Software Corporation, the acknowledged leader in software distribution and deployment solutions, today announced its continued participation in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integration Program (VSIP), nearly three years after becoming one of the first to join the program. InstallShield also reaffirmed its plans to provide developers with an installation-authoring solution that is fully integrated within the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

“We are pleased to see InstallShield reaffirm its ongoing commitment to Visual Studio .NET and VSIP,” said David Lazar, group product manager for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft Corp. “InstallShield and its installation technology will continue to play a vital role in helping software developers using the Microsoft .NET platform.”

InstallShield also announced that the version 7.04 release of its flagship authoring solution, InstallShield Developer, will extend its current support for developers using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET to offer complete and seamless integration with the Visual Studio .NET IDE. Developer will provide the capability to create setups without ever having to leave the Visual Studio .NET IDE. Developer 7.04 is scheduled for general availability in April 2002 and will be available to existing Developer 7 customers at no additional charge.

“VSIP has been an extremely valuable vehicle for working with Microsoft on the Visual Studio .NET technology and we are delighted to continue our participation in the program,” said Viresh Bhatia, CEO of InstallShield. “The VSIP enables us to leverage the Visual Studio .NET environment and provide customers with the fully-integrated, leading-edge installation capabilities they’ve come to expect from InstallShield.”

InstallShield has a lengthy history of supporting Microsoft technologies – initially working with Microsoft to deliver the first graphical-driven installation experience for the Windows 3.x platform. Over the past decade, InstallShield has worked closely with Microsoft to deliver many of the installation technologies that compose the setup standard used today.

About InstallShield Software Corp.

InstallShield Software Corp. is the acknowledged leader in software-distribution and software-deployment solutions for independent software vendors and corporate IT systems administrators. InstallShield technology powers deployment for the top 100 independent software vendors and is used by more than 200,000 corporate and commercial software developers and systems administrators worldwide. InstallShield is headquartered outside of Chicago in Schaumburg, Ill. For more information, visit www.installshield.com.

# # #

© 2002 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. InstallShield is a registered trademark of InstallShield Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.