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Software 2000 drivers enable instant Microsoft Windows 2000 Support

OXFORD — February, 2000 — Software 2000 today announced that it has extended the Operating System capabilities of its Component Driver Architecture (CDA)-based OEM toolkits. CDA previously supported Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 device drivers using Kernel mode but these drivers are not recommended by Microsoft for use on Windows 2000. CDA 2000 now fully supports Microsoft's new user-mode architecture as required by Windows 2000.

Microsoft's focus on improving reliability has lead to them requiring a new device driver architecture for Windows 2000. Consequently the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) testing requirements focus on these "user-mode" drivers. Unfortunately for those custom driver developers not using CDA this means a re-write of value-added drivers, and two separate driver sources to support.

OEMs choosing CDA 2000 benefit from being able to instantly build both Windows NT 4.0 kernel-mode drivers and Windows 2000 user-mode drivers from the same source. In contrast with users of Unidrv (Microsoft's Windows 2000 "standard" drivers) CDA 2000 OEMs are easily able to maintain support for the various Windows NT 4.0 service packs as well as the latest Windows 2000 releases and service packs.

OEM custom drivers and OEM utilities and software easily install into Windows 2000 with Software 2000's Setup 2000 with the latest driver development kits. Setup 2000 enables seamless and silent integration with Microsoft Windows Installer (R) and InstallShield (R) , or may be used as a standalone Setup and uninstaller program.

CDA 2000 supports all Microsoft standards for installation including "AddPrinter" wizard, "Add/RemovePrograms" wizard, Point-and-Print, and Plug-and-Play.

In addition OEMs have access to other features of CDA 2000 including:

End-to-end streaming compression

The print datastream can be easily matched to firmware supported compression, allowing the smallest possible print file sizes and optimum network performance

Enhanced Branding of OEMs devices

In addition to the OEM branding flexibility of CDAs user interface, it's now easy for OEMs to implement highly-branded and versatile Status monitors and Direct printing components with their drivers. These can aid sales of branded consumables, and offer value-added end-user features while branding the OEM's device.

Highly Optimized printer support

CDA 2000 brings clear performance benefits to PostScript 3 and Level 2 devices, and PCL XL, 5e and 5c devices, through optimized use of firmware features.

About Software 2000

Software 2000 specializes in the development of driver technology for Macintosh, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and supplies to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) throughout the world.

In just ten years, Software 2000 has grown into a multi-million dollar company with offices in Monterey California, Tokyo Japan and Oxford England. The company is recognized as the largest independent developer of printer drivers in the world. Software 2000 provides DDKs and custom driver development services to OEM manufacturers including Alps, Canon, Epson, Fuji Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lexmark, OCE, QMS, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Xerox, and many others.

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