MACROMEDIA AND ORACLE ANNOUNCE INCLUSION OF SHOCKWAVE FOR DIRECTOR IN THE NETWORK COMPUTER REFERENCE DESIGN FROM ORACLE

350,000 Macromedia Director Developers To Bring Rich, Interactive

                   Multimedia to the Oracle NC Platform 

SAN FRANCISCO, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR), the leader in digital arts, multimedia and Web publishing software, announced today at the Oracle Press Conference, that Shockwave(TM) for Director(R) will be an integral part of the Network Computer Reference Design from Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL). The NC Reference Design is Oracle's implementation of easy-to-use, low-cost computing devices based upon Internet standards as adopted by Apple, IBM, Netscape, Oracle and Sun.

Oracle will license Macromedia's Shockwave for Director technology and source code for inclusion in its reference design to be implemented on multiple NC hardware platforms. Using Macromedia Director, the most popular multimedia authoring software, users can quickly create multimedia productions for rapid distribution over the Internet. Shockwave for Director is the standard for playing back interactive multimedia on the Web. Shockwave features integration into the most popular browsers, speedy network delivery, cross-platform multimedia playback and hotlinks to other URLs.

"We are pleased that Shockwave for Director will be available as part of the Oracle NC System Software Suite from its inception," said David Roux, executive vice president of Corporate Development at Oracle. "Director is a leading tool for multimedia production on PCs and we welcome its large development community to participate in the growth of the NC platform."

"The Network Computer has the potential to expand the market for computing and change the way people in business and the home access information," said Bud Colligan, Chairman & CEO of Macromedia. "We are excited to be working with Oracle to bring Shockwave multimedia to the NC. The NC will open up new markets for information, education and entertainment."

At today's event, Oracle demonstrated the first Shockwave for Director movie on an NC. Using streaming technology for the NC, the virtual walk-through of an art museum was shown live on the Internet. Through the use of Director's high-speed screen transitions, ink effects and animation, a user of an NC could walk through the hallways of the virtual world of an art museum, click on pictures and zoom in for a more detailed view.

The NC Reference Design from Oracle is a set of integrated technologies based on the NC Reference Design (NCRD) from Oracle, which provides a turn-key solution for OEMs. It consists of the NCOS(TM), a microkernel computer operating system, multimedia extensions, value added system software, technical specifications and manufacturing blueprints, which can be used by OEMs to design, develop and build Network Computers tailored for their specific markets and customers.

Macromedia's Shockwave technology has become the standard for multimedia and graphics on the Internet, with exponential growth in the number of "shocked" sites, and more than two million Shockwave viewers downloaded from www.macromedia.com. High profile sites like "Mission Impossible," the Discovery Channel Online, Nissan Pathfinder, Disney's "James and the Giant Peach," Virgin, Campbell's Soup and K-SWISS are among the thousands of leading Web sites that are using Shockwave technology to "shock" the Internet with interactive multimedia and graphics.

About Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation is the world's largest supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of more than $3.5 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products along with related consulting, education and support services, in more than 90 countries around the world. For more information about Oracle, please contact Oracle's headquarters at (415) 506-7000. Oracle's World Wide Web address is (URL) http://www.oracle.com/.

About Macromedia

Macromedia Inc., the leader in digital arts, multimedia and Web publishing software, offers a full range of products for the Windows and Macintosh platforms. The company's flagship products include: FreeHand(TM), the most powerful tool for design and illustration; Authorware(R), the most powerful multiplatform authoring environment for interactive information on the desktop and on intranets; Director(R), the industry-standard animation and authoring tool for multimedia production and the Internet; Shockwave(TM) technology for delivering multimedia and graphics on the Internet; Extreme 3D(TM), the most powerful 3D solution for design and multimedia; SoundEdit(TM) 16, the easy-to-use digital sound recording and editing solution; Fontographer(R), the industry-standard for type design and editing; Deck II(TM), the most powerful editing tool for desktop audio production; and Macromedia xRes(TM), the most powerful creative tool for hi-res images. For additional information about Macromedia, please visit our World Wide Web site: http://www.macromedia.com.

Product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc., as indicated. Other products or services may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Oracle, NC and Network Computer are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

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/CONTACT: Mary Leong of Macromedia, 415-252-2118; or Carol McGarry or Mike Farber, 617-431-0770, or Shirley Macbeth, 415-512-0770, all of Schwartz Communications/

(MACR ORCL)

CO: Macromedia Inc.; Oracle Corp. ST: California IN: CPR SU: LIC

EQ-SS -- LAM031 -- 0371 05/20/96 13:01 EDT