IBM announced the availability of software for the Linux operating system that helps people create and publish professional-quality Web sites. The announcement is IBM’s latest initiative to support Linux throughout its portfolio of e-business software, servers and services. WebSphere Homepage Builder includes the necessary templates, tools and multimedia tutorials for creating and publishing Internet and intranet Web sites and pages in minutes. The software’s easy-to-use features are designed to appeal to the ever-growing community using Linux as both a development platform and a Web server environment. WebSphere Homepage Builder for Linux will be available in North America and supports major commercial distributions of Linux. In addition, IBM announced the availability of WebSphere Homepage Builder for Windows, which was previously only available in parts of Asia. WebSphere Homepage Builder is the newest addition to IBM’s WebSphere software platform — Web infrastructure software that helps companies at each stage of e-business development, from startup to handling high volume Web transactions typical of B2B e-marketplaces. Key features of WebSphere Homepage Builder for Linux and Windows include: A complete package for creating and publishing Web pages and sites; Over 100 pre-built, drag-and-drop templates; Over 2,000 ready-to-use images and sounds; Multimedia tutorial; WebArt Designer, a graphic design tool; and Web Animator, a graphic animation tool. WebSphere Homepage Builder Version 4 will be available in North America on July 31 for distributions of Linux including Caldera OpenLinux, Red Hat Linux, TurboLinux and SuSE Linux. IBM list price will be $69.95, or $59.95 without hardcopy documentation. WebSphere Homepage Builder Version 5, which includes new site design capabilities, will be available in North America on July 31 for Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. IBM list price will be $69.95, or $59.95 without hardcopy documentation. IBM list upgrade price for competitive offerings like Microsoft’s Frontpage, will be $29.95, or $19.95 without hardcopy documentation. www.ibm.com/websphere