You are receiving this newsletter because you are a registered owner of Protection PLUS(tm) or you have signed up for our software-licensing newsletter on our web site. We are pleased to offer you this e-newsletter as a benefit of membership in the Concept Software product family and thank you for your continued suggestions, questions, feedback and requests. Your success is our success!

Many of you remember us relocating to Florida over five years ago to get away from the cold and snow of Ohio. When 321 Studios, now our largest customer and supporter of the SoftwareKey technologies, contacted us in the Winter of 2001 to help them manage the growth of their e-commerce business, I would have never thought that just over a year later we would be sharing the same office in St. Louis, Missouri. I personally traveled to St. Louis throughout 2002 to work on special projects for them related to software licensing and e-commerce. Family, friends, employees, and partners all asked when we would be moving. I have to admit that I said that I would personally NEVER move to Missouri. Well, as the title of this article suggests, never say never!

An excellent opportunity arose for the growing Concept Software that we could not pass up. So we have a new address, new surroundings, some new employees, but the same mission!

Mike Wozniak

President, Concept Software, Inc.

1. Concept Software relocates to St. Louis, Missouri

2. Protection PLUS 4.2 Released with Instant PLUS interface

3. Instant SOLO grows to over 140 customers

4. Concept Software Adds Marketing Services for Consumer Products

5. SOLO Server adds support for PayPal payments

6. New Automation Client - Automatic Proxy and SSL Support

Effective February 1st, you can reach us at:

Concept Software, Inc.

720 Spirit 40 Park Drive

Chesterfield, MO 63005

636-728-0245 Voice

636-728-0246 Fax

Refer to the newsletter introduction for more information.

Concept Software is proud to announce the availability of Protection PLUS(tm) 4.2 available now to existing Protection PLUS customers. Instant PLUS(tm) interface and a brand new Microsoft .NET component are just a few of the features added to the newest version of this industry-acclaimed licensing toolkit.

Now with the addition of Instant PLUS, developers can add the most common features of Protection PLUS into their application without source code modifications. Instant PLUS injects code into your existing .EXE, .SCR, .DLL or .OCX files to protect against decompilers or other hacking tools that are used to discover information about your application. In addition to the security features, trial features can be added to your application seamlessly. For the full press release, visit http://www.softwarekey.com/helpdesk/whats_new_PLUS_42B1.htm.

Protection PLUS users under an active subscription can download the beta from http://www.softwarekey.com/helpdesk/reg_beta.asp.

Below is a list of some of the changes in the PLUS libraries:

* New Microsoft .NET native component.

* When using EZ Trial or EZ Trigger with the static library, it is no longer necessary to modify the resources in your application.

* LFEdit is now associated with .LF file extension and can open License Files by double clicking on them. It will search for the most appropriate Product Definition by looking at the License File name.

* EZ Trigger dialog box now lists User Code 1 and 2 as locked text boxes to allow the customer to copy and paste the numbers into an e-mail message, etc. Previously they were listed as labels, which could not be copied and pasted.

* Updated dependency files to remove system DLLs that should not be distributed with application.

* New Automation Client samples for VC6, Delphi 5, and updated PLUS sample code.

* When License File Aliases are opened, the Windows NT/2000/XP permissions are now automatically set which allows everyone to write to them. In previous versions, an Administrator or Power User would have to install the product, but if a restricted user ran the application, the aliases would not be updated since they did not have the proper write permissions. This does not cause any errors. However, in the latest version, because the permissions are relaxed, all users will be able to update the aliases. This applies to both the registry and file-based aliases.

As Concept Software enters the Spring with more than 140 customers using Instant SOLO(sm), we recognize and appreciate the value in building customer relationships like the ones we've developed over the past 10 years. As we look ahead, we do so with a renewed commitment to provide the finest e-commerce solutions to you, our customer. We are proud to provide products that make powerful changes in the way you do business!

With that said, we extend our warmest welcome to:

Westglenn Software, Hurco Technologies, Inc., Mako Software, LLC, Loud Software, Inc., Olero Software, Inc., FSD International, Integrated Solutions, Inc., Patriot Data Systems, Media Marketing, Inc., Future Path Development Group Inc., Bay Prospector, FAMTS, Internet Marketing Tops, Tools For ED, Lahey Computer Systems, Inc., and the many others who have joined our automated e-commerce service family.

Concept Software, through a strategic alliance with 321 Studios, is now able to offer complete marketing and sales consulting and implementation. The marketing department has created strong ties in the media, with advertisers and direct mail houses to provide the best services available to bring exciting software products to market. In addition, our full-service creative group is always ready to design, brand and supplement all the marketing activities. The key to our marketing is an existing infrastructure that allows Concept Software to quickly establish and execute a launch plan for new products. The contacts we have made in retail enable Concept Software to not only provide strong marketing but also provide a solid retail channel to bring products to the consumer. In order to bring the finished product to market, we have a sales force with relationships with standard retail chains, online retail chains and OEM distributors. Concept Software is always available to help you make your product the best it can be.

SOLO Server can now process orders from customers wishing to pay with PayPal. After selecting a product to purchase, the customer can click on the logo of the appropriate payment method they wish to use. This includes Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, and now PayPal. PayPal accounts can be funded with either an existing balance, a credit card, or through an eCheck. Note that eChecks using a standard checking account take additional business days to clear and SOLO holds off on order processing until the amount has been secured.

Support for this new gateway is automatic for any Authors using Concept Software’s merchant account. Authors with their own merchant account can add support by simply contacting support@softwarekey.com.

Because it is relatively easy to obtain a PayPal account and PayPal payments can be processed with credit cards, this feature opens up the ability for more authors to use SOLO Server with their own merchant account, thereby saving money.

We are pleased to announce a new version of the Automation Client will be released very soon. This library has undergone some dramatic changes and additions which will streamline its communication abilities while still maintaining backward compatibility with previous versions. Implementing the libraries used by Internet Explorer, the Automation Client will now be able to seamlessly communicate through proxy servers without forcing users to enter any information regarding the proxy server name and port. We have also added optional SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) communication in order to deter hacking of the communication packets. Two new functions have been added to the library to detect an Internet connection and to post registration data to SOLO server. Listed below are the feature highlights of this new release:

• Implemented code to allow automatic communication through proxy servers! This is only available on machines with Internet Explorer 3 or higher.

• Added SK_ConnectionState() function to detect if an internet connection is available.

• Added flag to SK_GetTCDataDlg() and SK_ProcEZTrig1() to hide the proxy button. This is in case a call to SK_ConnectionState() is successful. You can call these functions without showing the proxy button so there is no confusion.

• Implemented Secure Sockets Layer communication (requires Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher. This is implemented through the flags parameter of the functions. Some functions did not implement a flags parameter and in these cases an Ex version of the function was created.

• Added error code if successful connection is made to SOLO server but the database is unavailable due to maintenance, down, or offline.

• PostRegData function added to library to allow registration data to be posted to SOLO from the application.