Origins of the BeOS?

[me_94501]

On another forum, we're having a debate about where the BeOS came from. One poster claims that it was really an Apple creation that they tossed aside. I have never heard of such a claim.

Does anyone here know what the origins of BeOS are?

 

[FattyMembrane]

Be Incorporated was founded by a former apple employee, but apple did not create the BeOS.

 

[Nermal]

Furthermore, it originally ran on the PowerPC-based BeBox. I *think* release 2 could also run on Power Macs. R3 added Intel compatibility, R4 changed the executable format and needed recompiles of everything. R5 was the first one available for free, although you could pay to get additional features, such as RealPlayer.

The PPC versions had an application called SheepShaver which allowed you to run your Mac applications inside the BeOS. I think it worked similarly to Classic in Mac OS X.

 

[revenuee]

sigh... it's a shame it doesn't exist anymore. .. i really wanted to try it... but you had to order the Cd online, since you couldn't download it for mac... and i didn't wanna get off some warez server... didn't have a credit card back then....

 

[Makosuke]

Nope, despite the connections employee-wise between Be and Apple, Apple definitely never had a hand in the OS--they probably saw it as dangerous competition, if anything. Maybe the other people in the argument got confused because of the Be buyout rumors just before Apple picked up Next?

I had a release around the midpoint of its development (either v3 or 4, I think 3) running off a Zip100 disk on a 6500 back when OSX was just a rumor. It was a really nice OS, even at that early stage--surprisingly swift multitasking, lotsa nice services, easy-to-set-up networking, and so on.

I even had a friend who owned a BeBox, but I never saw it.

Of course, I'm happy with the modernized OS we actually ended up with, but that OS sure had potential. Shame it was wasted so.

 

[benixau]

Originally posted by Makosuke

Of course, I'm happy with the modernized OS we actually ended up with, but that OS sure had potential. Shame it was wasted so.

Actualy - PalmOS 6 is going to be using the multi-tasking technologies that Be developed. If you remember PalmSource bought them out about the same time Apple bought neXt.

Be developed BeIA. This could run is as little as 8MB of ROM with as little as 2MB of RAM, 8MB for accurate and complete multitasking. Of course you needed RAM for your apps but it worked and was the reason that PalmSource snapped it up.

They were already planning PalmOS 5 and OS6 at that stage.