Prior to joining MandrakeSoft, François Bancilhon gained extensive experience in successfully managing software companies as well as developing businesses in the information technologies sector. He was a founder and CEO of O2 Technology -- an object database company that he successfully merged with Unidata in 1997. In 1999, he was a founder and CEO of Arioso, an ASP company that provides Human Resource and benefit management services to small and medium-sized businesses in the US. More recently, he was Chief Technology Officer of SomaLogic, a Biotech company based in Boulder, Colorado. He is also a founder and Chairman of the Board of Xyleme -- an XML tools company based in Saint-Cloud, France. François's career began in the academic world, both in Europe and in the US, in the field of relational and object-oriented databases.

After eighteen months of intensive restructuring, MandrakeSoft is showing extremely positive results: Revenue is up, while expenses have been drastically reduced. The company is now at the stage where it needs an experienced manager capable of taking it to the next level of development, while keeping the Open Source spirit which has always been one of MandrakeSoft's main strengths.

"We all feel that François is an excellent match with our company due to his strong business experience in the USA and in Europe. We also highly value his academic background, which is very close to the open source spirit." said Jacques Le Marois, Chairman and President of MandrakeSoft. He added: "We're all very excited that François has agreed to join MandrakeSoft as new CEO."

François Bancilhon stated: "Joining MandrakeSoft and the Linux world has already been an outstanding experience during my first weeks of presence. This was a new world for me, with an incredible level of energy and vision. Mandrake Linux is much more than just an operating system, it is a complete information system solution. The potential of Free Software and the Linux community are so powerful that I'm certain we're about to experience a radical visible movement within the computing industry. In the meantime, much can be done at MandrakeSoft to increase the business side of the company. I'm very excited to help MandrakeSoft become a major player in the IT field, and look forward to working with Jacques and the entire MandrakeSoft team."

MandrakeSoft recently released a new range of Mandrake Linux 9.0 products and services. Mandrake Linux 9.0 has been warmly welcomed by the press as a new step in making Linux easier and more accessible for all users.

About MandrakeSoft

MandrakeSoft provides a trusted interface between users of information technology and Open Source developers. The company offers its enterprise, government and educational customers a complete range of GNU/Linux and OpenSource software and related services, plus user-friendly and highly competitive information technologies. Additionally, MandrakeSoft offers technologists committed to Open Source software and courseware a trusted channel to offer their services.

MandrakeSoft has technologists in over 20 countries, and is traded on Paris Euronext Marche Libre (Euroclear code: 4477.PA; Reuters code: MAKE.PA) and the US OTC market (stock symbol MDKFF). "Born on the Internet" in late 1998, MandrakeSoft has established headquarters in the U.S.A., Montreal and France. Please visit the website: https://mandriva.com for more information.