Filed by Computer Associates International, Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933
Subject Company: Sterling Software, Inc.
Commission File No. 333-30842

Contact: Doug Robinson, Investor Relations          Bob Gordon, Public Relations
         (631) 342-2745                             (631) 342-2391
         dougr@ca.com                               bobg@ca.com

                  COMPUTER ASSOCIATES TENDER OFFER FOR STERLING
                   CLOSES WITH MORE THAN 90 PERCENT ACCEPTANCE

           CA to Outline Product Development Strategies and Directions
              For Sterling Products at CA-World 2000 In New Orleans

ISLANDIA, N.Y., April 3, 2000 - Computer Associates  International,  Inc. (NYSE:
CA) today  announced  the  expiration  of the tender  offer by its wholly  owned
subsidiary,  Silversmith Acquisition Corp., for all of the outstanding shares of
Sterling Software,  Inc. (NYSE: SSW) common stock at an exchange ratio of 0.5634
shares of CA common stock for each share of common stock of Sterling.  The offer
expired at midnight New York time on Friday,  March 31, 2000. All shares validly
tendered (and not properly withdrawn) prior to the expiration have been accepted
for  exchange  and will be  exchanged  promptly  for CA shares  and for cash for
fractional shares.

Approximately  75,906,290  shares were tendered  (including  through  notices of
guaranteed  delivery) in the offer prior to its  expiration,  which  constitutes
approximately  91.4 percent of the total number of outstanding  shares of common
stock of Sterling.

Operational  integration of CA and Sterling will begin immediately.  The pending
merger  of  Sterling  and  Silversmith,  CA's  merger  subsidiary,  will  become
effective as soon as practicable  subject to the terms of the Agreement and Plan
of Merger among Sterling,  Silversmith and Computer Associates. Once the pending
merger  becomes  effective,  Sterling  will become a wholly owned  subsidiary of
Computer Associates.

Sterling  Software  solutions  are deployed at more than 20,000  customer  sites
worldwide - including 90 percent of Fortune 100 companies - to create,  control,
automate and manage both traditional and eBusiness systems.  Sterling Software's
award-winning  portal  technology  provides  access to data stored in  corporate
databases,  in the same way that Internet  content portals provide access to the
wealth of content on the Web.

The  acquisition  will expand CA's broad array of products and  services,  while
accelerating  their  delivery.  This will enable all companies - from the newest
"dot coms" to established  brick-and-mortar  businesses - to continue to exploit
the latest opportunities driven by the Internet economy.

CA  plans to  enhance  Sterling  Software  products  with  its  industry-leading
technology,   including  information  visualization,   Neugents  neural  network
technology and infrastructure  management solutions,  providing clients with the
world's most powerful and complete environment for end-to-end eBusiness.

In  particular,  the  combination  of  Sterling  Software's  COOL suite and CA's
Jasmine ii information  infrastructure  will deliver the most  sophisticated and
personalized enterprise application integration solution on the market.

The  merger  will  also  create  the  industry's  largest  supplier  of  storage
management  technology,  with  solutions that cover the entire  enterprise  from
OS/390 and distributed systems to desktops and even laptops.  These will include
the industry's  leading  distributed  backup and recovery  products,  as well as
Storage Area Network solutions unprecedented in their breadth and scope.

Customers  from both  companies  will also  benefit from  increased  delivery of
Sterling  Software  solutions  through CA's extensive  global sales and services
organization, including both direct and indirect channels.

CA intends to issue papers on product development  strategies and directions for
the Sterling products at CA-World 2000, April 9-14 in New Orleans.

Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), the world's leading business
software  company,  delivers the end-to-end  infrastructure  to enable eBusiness
through innovative technology,  services and education.  CA has 18,000 employees
worldwide and had revenue of $6.3 billion for the year ended  December 31, 1999.
For more information, visit www.ca.com.

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All trademarks,  tradenames, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to
their respective companies.

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We urge  investors  and security  holders to read the  following  regarding  the
merger,  including  amendments  that may be made to them,  because  they contain
important information:

- - Computer Associates' preliminary prospectus,  prospectus supplements and final
prospectus.

- -  Computer  Associates'   Registration  Statement  on  Form  S-4,  as  amended,
containing or incorporating by reference such documents and other information.

- - Sterling Software's  Solicitation/Recommendation  Statement on Schedule 14D-9,
as amended.

These documents and amendments to these documents have or will be filed with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

When these and other documents are filed with the SEC, they may be obtained free
at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. You may also obtain for free each of these
documents (when available) from Computer Associates by directing your request to
Investor Relations at  www.ca.com/invest/questions or by fax at 631-342-6864, or
from Sterling Software by directing your request to  investor@sterling.com or by
fax at (214) 981-1215.

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