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                            [SCS/COMPUTE(R) LETTERHEAD]

NEWS RELEASE

        Contact at The Thomson Corporation:             Nigel R. Harrison
                                                        Executive Vice President
                                                        203/328-9422

        Contact at SCS/Compute:                         Charles G. Wilson
                                                        Executive Vice President
                                                        314/432-7323

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                 THE THOMSON CORPORATION AND SCS/COMPUTE, INC.
                            APPROVE MERGER AGREEMENT

        ST. LOUIS, December 20, 1995 -- SCS/Compute, Inc. (SCS), a leading 
software supplier to tax and accounting professionals, announced today that it 
has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Thomson U.S. 
Holdings, Inc., a division of The Thomson Corporation (Thomson) of Toronto, 
Canada. The principal activities of Thomson are specialized information and 
publishing, and leisure travel. With annual sales of U.S. $6.5 billion, and 
45,000 employees, Thomson operates primarily in North America and the United 
Kingdom and has expanding interests internationally.
        Robert W. Nolan, Sr., chairman, president and chief executive officer 
of SCS, has entered into a definitive agreement with Thomson to sell his 
1,082,570 shares of common stock at a price of $6.75 per share. Under the terms 
of the merger agreement, Thomson will begin a $6.75 per share cash tender offer 
no later than Wednesday, December 27, 1995 for the remaining 1,489,407 shares 
of SCS's outstanding common stock. SCS is listed on the NASDAQ Small-Cap Stock 
market under the symbol SCOMC.
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        The Board of Directors of SCS has approved the merger agreement and has 
determined that the proposed transaction is fair to, and in the best interests 
of, the SCS stockholders. In reaching this conclusion, the Board of Directors 
relied in part upon the fairness opinion from Fister & Associates, Inc., the 
financial advisor to SCS.

        The acquisition is subject to more than 50 percent of the shares 
outstanding being tendered, including Nolan's stock. The completion of the 
merger is also subject to other customary conditions. Following the completion 
of the transaction, SCS will operate as a separate company within Thomson's 
Research Institute of America (RIA) Group. RIA Group, formed earlier this year, 
is comprised of RIA, Warren Gorham & Lamont, and Practitioners Publishing 
Company. Together these professional publishers are one of the leading 
information providers to the tax and accounting markets in the United States.

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