FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Gerard Schwarz              Sean T. Lamont
            612/822-1604                Abstract Software
            ciusa@cup.portal.com        P.O. Box 25045
                                        Seattle, WA  98125-1945
                                        206/361-5080
                                        lamont@abstractsoft.com

      Ciusa and Abstract Software announce agreement to include
 Composer font free with the purchase of NoteAbilityTM for NeXTSTEPTM

        MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, December 17, 1993 -- Ciusa, a leader in
creative software for NEXTSTEP computers, today announced that it will
include a free copy of the music font, Composer, published by Abstract
Software, with each copy of NoteAbility sold. NoteAbility lets
NEXTSTEP users get the kind of power found in music notation
applications on other platforms, but will get all the ease of use that
NEXTSTEP provides.  Composer is a music font that NoteAbility uses to
display and print music notation.
        "We are very pleased to have the NoteAbility and the Composer
font bundle.  It lets users who purchase NoteAbility a chance to start
entering and playing their scores right out of the box."
        "The Composer font was designed by the same people who
designed all of the fonts in our current WSI-Fonts collection,
recently rated 3 cubes by NeXTWORLD magazine (June/July 1993).  The
Composer font is a fully scalable Type 1 font and is 99% compatible
with Adobe's Sonata font," according to Sean T. Lamont, CEO of
Abstract Software.
        NoteAbility lets users create professional quality music
scores inputting notes via mouse with on-screen keyboard, mouse input,
and step-time and real-time entry from a MIDI keyboard or input, and
step-time and real-time entry from a MIDI keyboard or device.
NoteAbility accepts NeXT MIDI and score files as well as NoteWriter
files, an Apple Macintosh-based music notation application.  Users can
add slurs, move notes, transpose notes, change key signatures, time
signatures, and add text anywhere on the screen.
        NoteAbility was created by Keith Hamel, author of the powerful
NoteWriter for Macintosh computers.  NoteAbility goes far beyond
NoteWriter and many current music notation applications mainly because
of the NEXTSTEP operating system.  NoteAbility brings new flexibility
and power to personal computer music notation.
        For a limited time every purchaser of NoteAbility will receive
the Composer font free. Currently NoteAbility is only available in
Motorola-based 68040 machines.  The product will ship in January of
1994 in multi-architecture binary (MAB)  format, allowing NoteAbility
to run on NEXTSTEP for Motorola-based proprietary machines as well
as Intel-based 486 and Pentium computers.


        Ciusa, also known as Creative Imagineering America, is located
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is a privately held company that
develops personal creativity and personal productivity software for
NEXTSTEP-based computer systems.

        Abstract Software, located in Seattle, Washington, develops
application software and is the publisher of WSI-Fonts, a collection
of professional quality fonts for the NEXTSTEP platform.


Trademarks:

Ciusa, Creative Imagineering America, the Ciusa logo, and NoteAbility
are trademarks of Ciusa.  NeXT and NEXTSTEP are registered trademarks
of NeXT Computer, Inc.  Apple and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple
Computer, Inc.  Postscript and Display Postscript and Sonata font are
trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.  Motorola is a trademark of Motorola
Corporation.  Composer font is a trademark of Weatherly Systems, Inc.

                612/822-1604  ciusa@cup.portal.com