<PAGE>   1





                                                      Registration No. 333-

                                  UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                        UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                          PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION
                          -----------------------------
             (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

             Massachusetts                                        04-2746201
             -------------                                        ----------
    (State of other jurisdiction of                           (I.R.S. Employer
     incorporation or organization)                          Identification No.)

  14 Oak Park, Bedford, Massachusetts                               01730
  -----------------------------------                               -----
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)                          (Zip code)

                          Progress Software Corporation
                            1997 Stock Incentive Plan
                            -------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                           Joseph W. Alsop, President
                          Progress Software Corporation
                                   14 Oak Park
                          Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
                          ----------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)
                                 (781) 280-4000
                     (Telephone number, including area code,
                     ---------------------------------------
                              of agent for service)

                                 WITH A COPY TO:
                          Robert W. Sweet, Jr., Esquire
                             Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP
                             One Post Office Square
                           Boston, Massachusetts 02109
                                 (617) 483-1390

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Title of securities to be         Amount to be             Proposed maximum               Amount of
        registered                 registered          aggregate offering price       Registration Fee
        ----------                 ----------          ------------------------       ----------------             

  <S>                             <C>                        <C>                         <C>         
  Common Stock, $.01 par          680,000(1)(2)              $13,982,500(2)              $4,124.83(2)
     value per share
</TABLE>

(1)  The 680,000 shares shown are shares issued or issuable pursuant to the
     Company's 1997 Stock Incentive Plan. Pursuant to Rule 416(a) under the
     Securities Act of 1933, as amended, there are also registered an
     undetermined number of additional shares which may be issued if the
     antidilution provisions of the Plan become operative.
(2)  The total number of shares of Common Stock to be registered are available
     to be offered under the 1997 Stock Incentive Plan at prices not presently
     determinable. Pursuant to Rule 457(c) and (h), the offering price for these
     additional shares is estimated solely for the purpose of determining the
     registration fee and is based on $20.5625, the average of the high and low
     sale prices of the Common Stock as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market on
     November 28, 1997.


<PAGE>   2





                                     PART II
               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

         The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "Commission") are incorporated in this Registration Statement by
reference:

        (a) Annual Report on Form 10-K of Progress Software Corporation (the
"Company") for the fiscal year ended November 30, 1996 (file number 0-19417) as
filed with the Commission on February 20, 1997;

        (b) Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended
February 28, 1997, May 31, 1997 and August 31, 1997 (file number 0-19417); and

        (c) the description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the Commission on July
22, 1991 under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange
Act"), including any amendment or description filed for the purpose of updating
such description.

         All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered have been
sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed
to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part
thereof from the date of filing of such documents.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

         Not applicable.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

         The validity of the securities registered hereby is being passed upon
for the Company by Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP, Boston, Massachusetts.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS.

         Article 6 of the Company's Restated Articles of Organization eliminates
the personal liability of a director to the Company or its stockholders for
monetary damages arising out of such director's breach of fiduciary duty as a
director of the Company to the maximum extent permitted by Massachusetts law.
Section 13(b) (1-1/2) of Chapter 156B of the Massachusetts Business Corporation
Law provides that the articles of organization of a corporation may state a
provision eliminating the personal liability of a director to a corporation or
its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a
director; provided, however, that such provision shall not eliminate or limit
the liability of a director (I) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty
to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts of commissions not in good
faith or which involve intentional misconduct or knowing violation of law, (iii)
under section 61 or 62 of the Massachusetts Business corporation Law dealing
with liability for unauthorized distributions and 




<PAGE>   3

loans to insiders, respectively, or (iv) for any transaction from which the
director derived an improper personal benefit.

         Article VII of the Company's By-Laws provides that the Company shall
indemnify its officers and directors, and directors, officers, trustees,
employees and other agents of any organization in which the Company owns shares
or of which it is a creditor, against all liabilities and expenses reasonably
incurred by such officers, directors, employees and other agents in connection
with the defense or disposition of any action, suit or proceeding in which they
may be involved by reason of having been a director, officer, employee or other
agent, except with respect to any matter as to which they shall have been
adjudicated not to have acted in good faith and the reasonably belief that their
action was in the best interests of the Company. Section 67 of the Massachusetts
Business Corporation Law authorizes a corporation to indemnify its directors,
officers, employees and other agents unless such person shall have been
adjudicated in any proceeding not to have acted in good faith in the reasonably
belief that such action was in the best interests of the corporation.

         The effect of these provision would be to permit such indemnification
by the Company for liabilities arising out of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended.

         The Company also maintains an officers and directors liability
insurance policy.

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

         Not applicable.

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS.

4.1      Progress Software Corporation 1997 Stock Incentive Plan

5.1      Opinion of Counsel

23.1     Consent of Deloitte & Touche, LLP

23.2     Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5.1)

24.1     Power of Attorney (contained on the signature page)

ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS.

         1.       The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for
purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each
filing of the Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing
of an employee benefit plan's annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered herein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

         2.       The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:


<PAGE>   4

                  (a) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

                           (i) To include any prospectus required by Section
                  10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

                           (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
                  arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement
                  (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which,
                  individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental
                  change in the information set forth in the Registration
                  Statement;

                           (iii) To include any material information with
                  respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed
                  in the Registration Statement or any material change to such
                  information in the Registration Statement;

                  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, that paragraphs (a)(i) and (a)(ii) above do
not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective
amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or
furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference
in the Registration Statement.

                  (b) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under
the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed
to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein,
and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the
initial bona fide offering thereof.

                  (c) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

         3.       Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer of controlling
person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.



<PAGE>   5


                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration
Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the Town of Bedford, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the second
day of December, 1997.

                                    PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION


                                    By: /s/ JOSEPH W. ALSOP
                                        -----------------------
                                        Joseph W. Alsop,
                                        President and Treasurer


                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

         KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that each individual whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Joseph W. Alsop, Chadwick H. Carpenter,
Jr. and Norman R. Robertson, and each of them, his true and lawful
attorneys-in-fact and agents with full power of substitution, for him and in his
name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments
(including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to
file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection
therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said
attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do
and perform each and every act and thing he may deem necessary or advisable to
be done in connection with this Registration Statement, as fully to all intents
and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming
all that such attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their or his
substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and as of the dates indicated.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Signature                                    Title                           Date
---------                                    -----                           ----



<S>                                 <C>                               <C>    
/s/ JOSEPH W. ALSOP                 President, Treasurer, and         December 2, 1997
----------------------------        Director (Principal
Joseph W. Alsop                     Executive Officer) 
                                    


/s/ NORMAN R. ROBERTSON             Vice President, Finance           December 2, 1997
----------------------------        and Chief Financial Officer  
Norman R. Robertson                 (Principal Financial Officer)
                                    
</TABLE>




<PAGE>   6

<TABLE>
<S>                                 <C>                               <C>    
/s/ DAVID H. BENTON, JR.            Corporate Controller              December 2, 1997
----------------------------        (Principal Accounting Officer)
David H. Benton, Jr.                


/s/ LARRY R. HARRIS                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Larry R. Harris


/s/ ROBERT J. LEPKOWSKI             Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Robert J. Lepkowski


/s/ MICHAEL L. MARK                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Michael L. Mark


/s/ ARTHUR J. MARKS                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Arthur J. Marks


/s/ AMRAM RASIEL                    Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Amram Rasiel


/s/ JAMES W. STOREY                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
James W. Storey
</TABLE>


<PAGE>   7



                                    EXHIBITS


4.1      Progress Software Corporation 1997 Stock Incentive Plan *

5.1      Opinion of Counsel

23.1     Consent of Deloitte & Touche, LLP

23.2     See Exhibit 5.1

*        Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.18 to the Company's Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended May 31, 1997.
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{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORP /MA", "cik": "0000876167", "assigned-sic": "7372", "irs-number": "042746201", "state-of-incorporation": "MA", "fiscal-year-end": "1130"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-41393", "film-number": "97731792"}, "business-address": {"street1": "14 OAK PARK", "city": "BEDFORD", "state": "MA", "zip": "01730", "phone": "6172804000"}}
1

                                                      Registration No. 333-

                                  UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                        UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                          PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION
                          -----------------------------
             (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

             Massachusetts                                        04-2746201
             -------------                                        ----------
    (State of other jurisdiction of                           (I.R.S. Employer
     incorporation or organization)                          Identification No.)

  14 Oak Park, Bedford, Massachusetts                               01730
  -----------------------------------                               -----
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)                          (Zip code)

                          Progress Software Corporation
                            1997 Stock Incentive Plan
                            -------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                           Joseph W. Alsop, President
                          Progress Software Corporation
                                   14 Oak Park
                          Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
                          ----------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)
                                 (781) 280-4000
                     (Telephone number, including area code,
                     ---------------------------------------
                              of agent for service)

                                 WITH A COPY TO:
                          Robert W. Sweet, Jr., Esquire
                             Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP
                             One Post Office Square
                           Boston, Massachusetts 02109
                                 (617) 483-1390

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title of securities to be         Amount to be             Proposed maximum               Amount of
        registered                 registered          aggregate offering price       Registration Fee
        ----------                 ----------          ------------------------       ----------------
Common Stock, $.01 par          680,000(1)(2)              $13,982,500(2)              $4,124.83(2)
     value per share
(1)  The 680,000 shares shown are shares issued or issuable pursuant to the
     Company's 1997 Stock Incentive Plan. Pursuant to Rule 416(a) under the
     Securities Act of 1933, as amended, there are also registered an
     undetermined number of additional shares which may be issued if the
     antidilution provisions of the Plan become operative.
(2)  The total number of shares of Common Stock to be registered are available
     to be offered under the 1997 Stock Incentive Plan at prices not presently
     determinable. Pursuant to Rule 457(c) and (h), the offering price for these
     additional shares is estimated solely for the purpose of determining the
     registration fee and is based on $20.5625, the average of the high and low
     sale prices of the Common Stock as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market on
     November 28, 1997.
2

                                     PART II
               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

         The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "Commission") are incorporated in this Registration Statement by
reference:

        (a) Annual Report on Form 10-K of Progress Software Corporation (the
"Company") for the fiscal year ended November 30, 1996 (file number 0-19417) as
filed with the Commission on February 20, 1997;

        (b) Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended
February 28, 1997, May 31, 1997 and August 31, 1997 (file number 0-19417); and

        (c) the description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the Commission on July
22, 1991 under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange
Act"), including any amendment or description filed for the purpose of updating
such description.

         All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered have been
sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed
to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part
thereof from the date of filing of such documents.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

         Not applicable.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

         The validity of the securities registered hereby is being passed upon
for the Company by Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP, Boston, Massachusetts.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS.

         Article 6 of the Company's Restated Articles of Organization eliminates
the personal liability of a director to the Company or its stockholders for
monetary damages arising out of such director's breach of fiduciary duty as a
director of the Company to the maximum extent permitted by Massachusetts law.
Section 13(b) (1-1/2) of Chapter 156B of the Massachusetts Business Corporation
Law provides that the articles of organization of a corporation may state a
provision eliminating the personal liability of a director to a corporation or
its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a
director; provided, however, that such provision shall not eliminate or limit
the liability of a director (I) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty
to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts of commissions not in good
faith or which involve intentional misconduct or knowing violation of law, (iii)
under section 61 or 62 of the Massachusetts Business corporation Law dealing
with liability for unauthorized distributions and
3

loans to insiders, respectively, or (iv) for any transaction from which the
director derived an improper personal benefit.

         Article VII of the Company's By-Laws provides that the Company shall
indemnify its officers and directors, and directors, officers, trustees,
employees and other agents of any organization in which the Company owns shares
or of which it is a creditor, against all liabilities and expenses reasonably
incurred by such officers, directors, employees and other agents in connection
with the defense or disposition of any action, suit or proceeding in which they
may be involved by reason of having been a director, officer, employee or other
agent, except with respect to any matter as to which they shall have been
adjudicated not to have acted in good faith and the reasonably belief that their
action was in the best interests of the Company. Section 67 of the Massachusetts
Business Corporation Law authorizes a corporation to indemnify its directors,
officers, employees and other agents unless such person shall have been
adjudicated in any proceeding not to have acted in good faith in the reasonably
belief that such action was in the best interests of the corporation.

         The effect of these provision would be to permit such indemnification
by the Company for liabilities arising out of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended.

         The Company also maintains an officers and directors liability
insurance policy.

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

         Not applicable.

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS.

4.1      Progress Software Corporation 1997 Stock Incentive Plan

5.1      Opinion of Counsel

23.1     Consent of Deloitte & Touche, LLP

23.2     Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5.1)

24.1     Power of Attorney (contained on the signature page)

ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS.

         1.       The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for
purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each
filing of the Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing
of an employee benefit plan's annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the
registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement
relating to the securities offered herein, and the offering of such securities
at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

         2.       The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:
4

                  (a) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

                           (i) To include any prospectus required by Section
                  10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

                           (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
                  arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement
                  (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which,
                  individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental
                  change in the information set forth in the Registration
                  Statement;

                           (iii) To include any material information with
                  respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed
                  in the Registration Statement or any material change to such
                  information in the Registration Statement;

                  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, that paragraphs (a)(i) and (a)(ii) above do
not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective
amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or
furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference
in the Registration Statement.

                  (b) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under
the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed
to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein,
and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the
initial bona fide offering thereof.

                  (c) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

         3.       Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer of controlling
person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
5

                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration
Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the Town of Bedford, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the second
day of December, 1997.

                                    PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION

                                    By: /s/ JOSEPH W. ALSOP
                                        -----------------------
                                        Joseph W. Alsop,
                                        President and Treasurer

                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

         KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that each individual whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Joseph W. Alsop, Chadwick H. Carpenter,
Jr. and Norman R. Robertson, and each of them, his true and lawful
attorneys-in-fact and agents with full power of substitution, for him and in his
name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments
(including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to
file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection
therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said
attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do
and perform each and every act and thing he may deem necessary or advisable to
be done in connection with this Registration Statement, as fully to all intents
and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming
all that such attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their or his
substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities and as of the dates indicated.
Signature                                    Title                           Date
---------                                    -----                           ----
/s/ JOSEPH W. ALSOP                 President, Treasurer, and         December 2, 1997
----------------------------        Director (Principal
Joseph W. Alsop                     Executive Officer) 
                                    

/s/ NORMAN R. ROBERTSON             Vice President, Finance           December 2, 1997
----------------------------        and Chief Financial Officer  
Norman R. Robertson                 (Principal Financial Officer)
6
/s/ DAVID H. BENTON, JR.            Corporate Controller              December 2, 1997
----------------------------        (Principal Accounting Officer)
David H. Benton, Jr.                

/s/ LARRY R. HARRIS                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Larry R. Harris

/s/ ROBERT J. LEPKOWSKI             Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Robert J. Lepkowski

/s/ MICHAEL L. MARK                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Michael L. Mark

/s/ ARTHUR J. MARKS                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Arthur J. Marks

/s/ AMRAM RASIEL                    Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
Amram Rasiel

/s/ JAMES W. STOREY                 Director                          December 2, 1997
----------------------------
James W. Storey
7

                                    EXHIBITS

4.1      Progress Software Corporation 1997 Stock Incentive Plan *

5.1      Opinion of Counsel

23.1     Consent of Deloitte & Touche, LLP

23.2     See Exhibit 5.1

*        Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.18 to the Company's Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended May 31, 1997.