BeOS Breaks The Mould

Now that Linux is establishing itself as a bit of an NT beater and a Unix underwriter, we thought it was about time to give someone new some limelight ... so, come on down BeOS, your time is now.

First mentioned way back in issue 059 of Ninfomania, the BeOS has been gaining a huge amount of popularity recently as a way for computer makers to build an ultra-cheap computer without paying the "Microsoft tax." It's also a nifty bit of code in its own right.

Following the US$25 million investment from Intel last November, Be Inc. Be CEO Jean-Louis Gassee had this to say: "Just as Linux is the alternative OS for Internet and enterprise servers, the BeOS aims to do the same for audio and video creation and playback."

So, almost a year on, Microworkz and iDot have announced cheap machines running BeOS, with America Online waiting in the wings to discuss cross- marketing opportunities with Microworkz's iToaster, [do all your floppies fire out after two and half minutes?] which runs BeOS. Meanwhile, at the other end of the price spectrum, AST Research announced Be-based multimedia machines with 550-MHz Penium IIIs for $1,999.

Be Boxes works on both Intel and PowerPC chips, so there is a great scope for cross platform flexibility and doing away with Windows which for the lower end of the market is second only to the cost of the hard disk. In general, Windows is one of the rare elements of a PC that has not plummeted in price over the past two years. Hmmmm.

Another USP for BeOS is "crashproofness" that allows those all expensive technical support costs to be reduced, especially when you're pitching your product, in the case of the iToaster, at $199. Either way, it is going to be a long battle, but if they keep making enough noise, people will hear, even if you do call them iToasters.

http://www.be.com/

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