Be Bops on with New Software

by Howard Baldwin

RUNS BEOS ON INTEL AS NEW APPS ARE UNVEILED

from the November 1997 issue of MacWorld magazine

As Apple celebrates strong sales of Mac OS 8, Be (650/462-4100, www.be.com), developer of one of the oter operating systems for PowerPC CPUs, continues to bop along with new releases of its software.

In July, the company shipped its BeOS Preview Release for PowerPC, followed by an update that adds AppleTalk printing and improves video drivers and IDE support. Hedging its processor bets, Be also demonstrated its BeOS running on a dual-Pentium II PC at an August developer conference held on the eve of Macworld Expo in Boston.

The company promises to release R2 (for “second public release”) versions of the OS for both platforms in January, putting the BeOS on computers that run Mac OS, Windows 95, and Windows NT. The R2 versions will feature numerous multimedia enhancements, including support for MPEG, QuickTime, JPEG, 3-D graphics, and live video, according to spokesman Mark Gonzales.

Be’s Intel port produced a surprising result for the company-Be engineers claim that they found the PC platform to be faster and more stable than Apple’s Power Mac designs. These engineers say they expect Intel hardware to become the BeOS platform of choice.

Be Applications

Meanwhile, several small developers have introduced software for the fledgling market. BeatWare (650/322-7290, www.beatware.com) is shipping two suites: Be Basics, a $69 package that includes word processing and spreadsheet software, and Be Studio, a $99 paint and draw combo. The paint program takes advantage of the multithreaded capabilities of the BeOS, letting you open multiple copies of the same image and apply different filters to each.

Both suites include a free upgrade to version 2.0, which is planned for next spring. BeatWare also offers a BeOS programming tool called AppSketcher that works in conjunction with Metrowerks CodeWarrior DR3.

Be lists some 200 packages for its Preview Release or Advanced Access Preview Release (AAPR), an early version of the OS that shipped only to developers. These include development tools, spreadsheets and other business productivity applications, and even an Amiga emulator.

Applications written for previous versions of the BeOS, including AAPR, are not compatible with the Preview Release. However, Gonzales says, most of the older applications have been ported to the updated version.