GNOME FOUNDATION LEADER TO VISIT THREE LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES

Miguel de Icaza goes on GNOME Foundation's First Latin American Roadshow

BOSTON, Mass.  - June 24, 2002 - Miguel de Icaza, president of the GNOME
Foundation and CTO and co-Founder of Ximian, Inc. is visiting three
Latin American countries to discuss GNOME and free software with
government officials, business, IT leaders and open source advocates in
Peru, Uruguay and Brazil.  GNOME is a user-friendly, powerful desktop
environment and developer platform that is licensed under the GNU Lesser
General Public License, making it freely available for anyone to modify
and distribute.  GNOME boasts an advanced, component-based architecture
and powerful development tools, that make it possible to customize it
and add capabilities and applications easily.

"Emerging markets like Peru, Uruguay and Brazil have shown a strong
interest in GNOME and free software," said Miguel de Icaza, president of
the GNOME Foundation and CTO and co-founder of Ximian, Inc.  "I'm
excited to be visiting these three countries and to be speaking with
government, business and IT leaders there."

Miguel will speak at the Auditorio de la Asamblea Nacional de Rectores
today in Lima, Peru.  He will be in Montevideo, Uruguay at the
Universidad Católica del Urugual (UCUDAL) on June 26 and at Universidade
Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul  (UERGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil on June
27.  He will also meet individually with business, government and IT
leaders in each country.

"Given the current economic pressure of foreign debt in the region,
GNOME helps bring the computer accessibility necessary for modernization
without straining public budgets" said Timothy Ney, GNOME Foundation's
Executive Director.

A theme common to many De Icaza's discussions will be that of "Software
Libre and the State", addressing how countries can more affordably
bridge the "digital barrier" for their citizens while maintaining
control of their domestic technology industries and destinies by
building upon free, open-source rather than proprietary software.

GNOME has advanced internationalization capabilities and a host of
accessibility features for users with disabilities.  It also features a
built-in accessibility framework for developers to add even more
features.   It is an attractive and cost-effective option for business,
government and education, as well as individual users.  GNOME is
supported on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (more commonly
referred to as Linux), Solaris (tm) Operating Environment, HP-UX, Unix,
BSD and Apple's Darwin.  

"GNOME is technically advanced, user-friendly, cross-platform desktop
that represents a way for countries like Brazil to bridge the digital
divide and compete in a global economy," said Marcos Mazoni of PROCERGS,
the state data processing and Internet provider in Rio Grande Do Sol,
Brazil  "Miguel has made a huge contribution to computing through his
work on GNOME.  Millions of people worldwide use GNOME and we are
thrilled to have him here."

The state of Rio Grande do Sol in Brazil was one of the first
governments in the world to implement a policy of using only free
software.  Among other things, they are deploying free software programs
to manage their automobile registration system and other government
databases, and they are installing computers loaded with GNOME in
schools across the state.

About GNOME
GNOME is a free software project that is developing a complete, easy to
use desktop for Linux-based operating systems, BSD and a variety of
other Unix and Unix-like operating systems.  The GNOME desktop is used
by millions of people around the world.  More than 500 computer
developers, including over 100 full-time, paid developers, contribute
their time and effort to the project.

About the GNOME Foundation
Comprised of hundreds of volunteer developers and industry-leading
companies, the GNOME Foundation is an organization committed to
supporting the advancement of GNOME. The Foundation is a member
directed, non-profit organization that provides, financial,
organizational and legal support to the GNOME project and helps
determine its vision and roadmap. GNOME is an entirely free user
environment for desktops, networked servers and portable Internet
devices.  The modern architecture and design of GNOME includes a
technically advanced application development platform and a powerful
end-user desktop environment.  Major leading software industry and
computer manufacturers support the GNOME development effort, which is
led by a worldwide community of volunteers.  More information on GNOME
is available at www.gnome.org.