PEABODY, Mass., October 9, 2002 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that OmniPage Pro® 12 Office has received a C|NET Editors' Choice Award, adding to the growing list of industry accolades for ScanSoft's new document and PDF conversion software. C|NET editors, widely respected for their thorough evaluations and credibility by consumers and businesses alike, praised the simplicity, accuracy and overall performance of ScanSoft's solution, the world's most popular optical character recognition (OCR) software.

In its review, C|NET reported, "The twelfth version of ScanSoft OmniPage Pro Office shows the competition just who's boss. Other optical character recognition (OCR) programs . . . can't quite keep up with OmniPage's simplicity and power. OmniPage can easily retain complex page layouts, for example, where other OCR apps can't. What's more, OmniPage Pro is designed to help you publish converted information to paper, electronic files, or even the Web. The program reads and writes PDF files and a long list of other formats, and it contains powerful network features that let you share scanners and install the program from a server. It's arguably the best OCR package available today, well suited to small and large businesses alike." The complete review by Alfred Poor can be found at www.cnet.com.

OmniPage Pro 12 Office is a powerful productivity application that delivers highly accurate document and PDF conversion, replacing the need to manually re-create paper and image-based documents with an automated, electronic process. The software helps businesses save time and money by instantly turning paper and PDF files - letters, contracts, spreadsheets, magazine articles, manuals and more - into editable word processing and spreadsheet documents.

"We are excited by, and clearly proud of, the response we've seen from C|NET, other industry experts and importantly our customers," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer of ScanSoft. "We are honored to receive this award from C|NET, one of the most trusted sources of technology information, as we continue our tradition of providing the market with the most robust productivity applications."

With advanced features such as automatic document conversion to XML, scan-to-PDF and support for the Open eBook standard and batch processing, OmniPage Pro 12 Office offers a new level of functionality and ease of use for enterprise and workgroup environments. Other time-saving advances include precise document layout retention and unmatched document editing, making it easier than ever to re-create electronic documents - even those with formatted text, columns, graphics, tables and spreadsheets.

About C|NET

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About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes - saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft and OmniPage Pro are trademarks or registered trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names and product names mentioned may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performances, including without limitation statements concerning the perceived benefits of receiving C|NET Editors' Choice Award, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in the Company's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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