Mr. Jeff Largiader
Programmer's Paradise, Inc.
Vice President - Sales and Marketing
732-389-8950 extension 7393
jeff.largiader@programmers.com

PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ANNOUNCES "RIDING THE CREST" PRODUCT AWARD WINNERS

SHREWSBURY, NJ, March 18, 2004 -- Programmer's Paradise, Inc. (NASDAQ: PROG), a leading independent marketer of software tools for technology professionals, today announced the winners of its prestigious Riding the Crest Awards for 2003. The awards are given to the best-selling products at Programmer's Paradise within their respective categories for the previous calendar year.

"Our Riding the Crest Awards are coveted by software publishers," said Jeff Largiader, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Programmer's Paradise. They reflect software developer community sentiment - these are the products developers and other technology professionals most often choose to use. Among the many thousands of products we offer, these are the tools more frequently selected to provide real world solutions to developer needs."

VMware Workstation, virtual infrastructure software that allows technical users to run multiple operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Novell NetWare simultaneously on a single PC in fully networked, portable virtual machines, was the overall best-selling product for the past year. VMware, an EMC company, also captured the best-selling product for the Linux platform: VMware GSX Server for Linux, enterprise-class virtual infrastructure software designed for enterprise IT administrators who want to consolidate servers and streamline development and testing operations.

"Winning the Riding the Crest Award for the best-selling product overall at Programmer's Paradise is a proud achievement and great thrill for us," said Diane Greene, president of VMware. "Programmer's Paradise has helped us reach millions of developers with our message that VMware Workstation could revolutionize the way software development and testing was accomplished. Being recognized as the #1 selling product at Programmer's Paradise is a clear indication that the revolution is on."

Finishing a close runner-up to VMware Workstation in the best-selling product category overall and winner of the Riding the Crest Award in the enterprise database management software tool category was CA AllFusion ERwin Data Modeler. This highly regarded software product from Computer Associates helps you create and maintain databases, data warehouses and enterprise data models. Other prominent winners included Microsoft Visual Studio for .NET for best-selling multi-language IDE and Borland JBuilder Enterprise for best-selling single-user IDE.

A complete list of Riding the Crest winners can be viewed on the company website at www.programmersparadise.com/ridingthecrest.

Programmer's Paradise, Inc. is a marketer of technical software and hardware for microcomputers, servers and networks in the United States and Canada. Programmer's Paradise offers a wide variety of technical and general business application software, PC hardware and components from a broad range of publishers and manufacturers. Additional information can be found by visiting www.programmersparadise.com.