#1 Rated Kiplinger Taxcut will Provide BackWeb Push Technology to its Customers

Taxpayers to Receive Immediate Direct-to-Desktop News and Product Updates

Kansas City, MO, Dec. 19, 1997 -- Block Financial Corporation announced today that its award-winning Kiplinger TaxCut software will be the first tax program to deliver free, product updates directly to its customers' desktops using push technology. This innovative communications channel will be available in January through a strategic relationship between Block Financial and BackWeb Technologies.

"We were looking for a cutting-edge solution to deliver personalized, time sensitive information directly to our customers, and BackWeb was the answer," said Gene Goldenberg, vice president of Block Financial Corporation, which publishes Kiplinger TaxCut. "Besides superior tax advice and money saving tips, Kiplinger TaxCut customers now can have updated information and tax-law changes delivered directly to their desktops."

Kiplinger TaxCut customers can subscribe to the personalized broadcast channel by downloading the free BackWeb software available at www.taxcut.com or www.backweb.com. Once installed, Kiplinger TaxCut customers will receive news flashes on their desktops notifying them about updates to Kiplinger TaxCut.

"BackWeb's push technology is a natural fit for tax preparation software," said Greg Hartwell, Senior Manager of Business Development at BackWeb. "Block is really taking a leadership position in the category by using a new technology to deliver a real customer benefit. It should be a real hit with TaxCut users."

Kiplinger TaxCut has been completely redesigned for the 1997 tax year and includes valuable tax advice that helps individuals make sense of the hundreds of tax law changes introduced by Congress. This year, Kiplinger TaxCut customers will benefit from free electronic filing, free Internet access, the ability to import last year's tax data from Kiplinger TaxCut and TurboTax, a redesigned user interface and other powerful time and money-saving tools.

Kiplinger TaxCut flows from a unique partnership between Block Financial Corporation, an H&R Block company, and the Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., publishers of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine and The Kiplinger Letters. The two companies combine their software and financial expertise to create a program trusted by millions of Americans.

Kiplinger TaxCut is available in all stores where software is sold. Suggested retail prices for Kiplinger TaxCut: Deluxe Multimedia Edition for Windows and Macintosh--$39.95; TaxCut Windows on CD-ROM--$19.95; TaxCut Windows diskettes--$19.95. Kiplinger TaxCut is also available directly from Block Financial by calling 1-800-235-4060. Taxpayers can download the product from the company's web site at www.taxcut.com, and will soon be able to use an online version of the program.

Kiplinger TaxCut offers a MultiState CD-ROM version for both Windows and Macintosh that will include all 24 states for Windows and 5 for Macintosh -- all on a single CD-ROM. Individual state diskettes are also available for PC and Macintosh users free of charge with the purchase of the MultiState CD-ROM. The MultiState Edition will be available in February 1998 for a suggested retail price of $24.95.

About Block Financial
Started in 1993, Block Financial Corp., an H&R Block company, develops and provides technology-driven financial solutions. Block Financial's Software Division develops and licenses software programs for distribution through the retail channel and online sales.

H&R Block, Inc. is the world's largest tax-preparation firm, serving more than 17 million customers in nearly 9,700 offices worldwide. H&R Block handled one in every seven tax returns filed with the IRS during the 1997 tax season

About BackWeb Technologies
BackWeb Technologies is a leading offline Web software company. BackWeb extends the value of technology investments by offering mobile and remote employees offline access to portals, intranets and other Web-based applications and content. The company's products reduce network costs and improve the productivity of an increasingly mobile workforce. At the core of BackWeb's products is its patented Polite® synchronization technology that can distribute large amounts of data even over narrow bandwidth connections. BackWeb® customers include market leaders such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor, Eastman Kodak, GE Healthcare, Guidant, HP, KLA Tencor, Lam Research, Pfizer and more than one hundred other companies. BackWeb also has strategic reseller alliances with software industry leaders: Plumtree, SAP and IBM. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. For more information, visit www.backweb.com or call (800) 863-0100.

Statements in this news release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities laws, including statements of beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, the ability of BackWeb software to allow customers to gain mobile, disconnected use of their portals and help increase field sales and field service productivity, the integration of BackWeb software with BEA products will help developers extend portal applications for offline use without changing the way they work, and the ability of the resulting applications to help field sales and service organizations realize maximum productivity, cost savings, and process acceleration gains while disconnected from the network. Actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include unforeseen technological issues related to use of the BackWeb software, deployment issues related to implementation, unforeseen software errors, competitive factors and business and expense factors that may affect the perceived efficiencies from use of BackWeb's products, and the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in BackWeb's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BackWeb assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.