IBM ACQUIRES APACHE WEB SERVER FOR $5.7 BILLION

SAN HELIFINO, CA /DenounceNewswire/ -- June 20, 1998 -- International Business Machines, Inc. today announced it has acquired Apache, a popular public-domain Web server program, for $5.7 billion. The worldwide group of technical wizards known as The Apache Group, sixteen members all, will each receive $356 million in cash, as well as offers of high-paying jobs at IBM.

Brian Behlendorf, who heads the group, called the acquisition "completely insane," but added, "that's an awful lot of money! How could we possibly turn them down? They can have Apache!"

Said billionaire Richard Stallman, who sold the Free Software Foundation to Microsoft last year for $2.9 billion, "This is a fine catch by IBM. By making Apache proprietary, IBM takes a giant step forward in making the Net a more legitimate marketplace to conduct commerce."

Apache is currently the most popular server on the World Wide Web, accounting for nearly 90% of all web sites.

Previously, IBM relied on Netscape for Web server products, forgetting that Lotus, its own subsidiary, makes a web server called Domino. Lotus officials declined to comment, but curmudgeons close to the company said they remained disgruntled.

Asked if the Apache acquisition means that IBM is dumping Netscape, Paraic Sweeney, IBM's vice president of Web server marketing, said, "Yes."

Netscape was immediately available for comment, but nobody bothered to write down what they had to say.