FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW NETPROFESSIONAL COVERS SPAM, SHERLOCK, WEBOBJECTS 4, MAC OS 8.5

-- Professional Journal for Web Developers and NetAdmins
covers latest Apple technologies in Nov/Dec issue

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- December 4, 1998 -- Xplain Corporation,
publishers of NetProfessional(tm) magazine, revealed the contents of the
November/December issue, just now arriving in subscribers' mailboxes. The
print magazine, for web developers and network administrators, continues to
grow as a technical journal packed with in-depth articles on a variety of
current challenges users face, peer-reviewed by experts in the field.

The cover of the new issue (Volume 2, Number 3) features Mac OS 8.5,
Apple's latest OS upgrade. Two stories in the magazine cover aspects of 8.5
in great detail. One, by acclaimed author Maria Langer, shows what's new
for network administrators in the OS update, with close-up views of
interface elements that have changed since previous OS releases. A second
story, by Alex Kac of WebIS, shows how to create plug-ins for the Search
Internet component of Sherlock, so users can make their sites directly
searchable from the desktop; code examples are provided in both Tango and
Lasso.

Another major feature story in the issue covers server-side techniques for
detecting and preventing Spam, on a variety of platforms and mail
applications. The extensive piece, by MailShield author John Buckman of
Lyris, is complemented by sidebars on spam-bait techniques that you can
apply to webservers. "The anti-spam article really illustrates what
NetProfessional is all about," said Editor Raines Cohen. "We take a topic
and examine it in depth, providing information useful to both web
developers and network administrators, and help them better understand one
another."

Another feature article in the issue looks at webserver performance, and
how to best measure and optimize it. Author Mark Kriegsman of Clearway
Technologies makes the case that what's important is not how many pages per
second you can serve, but how many seconds per page, that determines the
quality of your users' experience on your site. "[This] is one of those
articles that is worth the entire year's subscription price of the
magazine," said Jacob Merriwether, President of Quality Computer Systems,
Inc.

The issue also carries an exclusive interview with Allen Denison, product
manager for WebObjects at Apple, about the recent release (4.0) of the
enterprise web-application development tool. We surprised Allen by bringing
to the interview two experienced WebObjects users from the e-commerce firm
Kagi, to provide hard-hitting questions about the product to deliver the
information that NetProfessional readers need to know.

NetProfessional's regular columnists are hard at work for readers as well
in the latest issue. NetProLive, by our online editor Todd Stauffer,
discusses online resources for XML development. And Chuq von Rospach, in
his "From the Trenches" column, shows tricks (using Maxum's NetCloak) for
compensating for inter-platform font size differences, asking, "Can We Kill
the Browser Vendors now?" And in this issue's NetTips column, Kurt van der
Sluis shows how to use network-probing tools from the AG Group to track
down problem net devices in an unconventional way, in "Find that Node".

Also in the issue, Michael Clasen reviews Tango for FileMaker 3.1, showing
the process of creating interactive queries in the web-to-database
middleware tool.

The November/December issue of NetProfessional (Volume 2, Number 3) is now
available at selected booksellers and newsstands domestically -- including
many Barnes & Noble superstore locations and other fine resellers. Better
yet, discount RISK FREE subscriptions are available at the magazine's
Website, (http://www.netprolive.com/). A table of contents is posted online
but the magazine content itself will NOT be available on the Website.

NetProfessional -- How to Get It

NetProfessional is available for only $19.95 for six issues for U.S.
subscribers -- OVER 50% OFF the cover price! (US$44.95 International,
US$25.95 Canadian) If you're not a current subscriber to NetProfessional,
sign up today -- send no money. Just visit the NetProfessional web site at
(http://www.netprolive.com/) and sign up RISK FREE for NetProfessional.
There's no risk to you, so act now!

When you must reach key web developers and network administrators with your
advertising message, contact NetProfessional's ad sales department at
mailto:adsales@netprolive.com

Corporate Background:

Xplain Corporation has three divisions -- publishing, mail order and custom
services. The publishing division includes MacTech(r) Magazine
http://www.mactech.com/, NetProfessional(tm) Magazine
http://www.netprolive.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(r) 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 send snail mail to PO Box 5200, Westlake
Village, CA 91359-5200, USA.

Media Contact:
Nick DeMello
Xplain Corporation
marketing@netprolive.com
805-494-9797 x105