This Press Release today is everywhere on the net. Palm is acquiring Be's technology, hardware and their software engineering force for $11 million USD. Please notice that they are buying Be's IP, not the company itself.Our take: Well, at least something happened. I think it is safe to assume that Be will be now closed down (the closing down of the company is pretty much certain, according to the press release "Be's board of directors has approved the transaction, and the winding-up of Be's operating business following the closing") as they now own nothing (except if they want to enter another markets or.. become car or pencil dealers). Being myself a BeOS advocate, user and developer for several years now, I am sad to see this twist and what it probably means for the BeOS. While Palm has not stated what they want to do with Be's technology, my guess is that they do not care about the BeOS and the Desktop OS world. Slashdot has it right this time: I believe Palm mostly bought the engineering force, to create something new and continue make their living in the PDA market. Palm is entering the Desktop through BeOS you say? Yeah, right. I will believe it when I see it. In my mind, the only way to see a BeOS R6 is if there will be a third party licensee that is interesting to license BeOS and do something productive with it (assuming that Palm will be willing to allow that). Palm does not have what it takes to drive a desktop OS neither BeOS can be open sourced (too much licensed source code all over the place).
Update: Not a crucial update to the story, just trying to add a bit of spicy humour. We just had an anonymous sending us in this picture, while BeDoper has its regular, humouristic take on the latest happenings in the Be world.
Update2: ZDNews writes: "However, Palm said it has no plans to further develop the Be operating system as a standalone OS."
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Palm goes on to mention in a later press release than the one I originally sent that they are also hiring some of the key talent. They hint at using the acquired technologies to enahnce PalmOS, although they don't give details. In any case, you can find that release here : http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=153400&TICK...
Sadly, I think it's pretty obvious that Palm couldn't possibly care less about the desktop market, meaning the BeOS as we know it is dead. We've all know it was coming for a long time now, but I'm still sad to see it finalized...
I agree with you Billy. Palm simply wanted to enhance PalmOS, they bought the (great indeed) engineering team and they _may_ reuse some code from BeIA and transfer the Be contracts (like Opera and such) so they can use it for their own PDA OS projects. First the pigs will fly and then Palm will have what it takes (guts, money, interest) to enter the Desktop OS market and make a difference in that market.
This is extremely sad. A few years ago I had become very disappointed in computers and where they were going. Then when I saw the BeOS, I got excited all over again, the way I was back in the early 80's. It is a sad day!!
No need to discuss why Be fans preferred BeOS to Linux, despite the guarantee that nobody can take Linux away from you.<BR> Q: Now what to do?<BR> A: Never let this happen again.<BR><BR> You've seen the future, you can still use it and run it and examine it. Take this as a template for rebuilding. Start your own. ANYONE can do this, it just takes determination, time, and hard work.<BR><BR> Despite it being the closest open source OS in philosophy to BeOS, I personally don't care for AtheOS (www.atheos.cx). It's a fantastic OS, but I feel like Kurt doesn't apply the polish that it needs, so I'm ready to start my own. I begin tonight.<BR><BR> I encourage everyone to do the same. Don't pool resources, don't generate a ton of hype, don't make grand announcements. Just work quietly until you have something. Time to take the future of computing into our own hands.
Hi again Eugenia, Can you explain your line "[...]they are buying Be's IP, not the company itself." Honestly I can't figure it out. What's an IP (two thirds of IPO?) My take would be that Palm has absorbed the company and is literally going to plunder the assets of the company (primarily the programming staff) and discard the rest (incl. BeOS) or is that too facile a view? Either way I agree with most of you, that unless some other party purchases BeOS from Palm (assuming they don't want it), that is officially dead indeed. DOH...
IP means "Intellectual Property". So, Palm now owns what Be used to own: Hardware, software and engineers/programmers. But they did not buy Be as a *company*. They bought all the rest though and Be is left with nothing. This kind of deals it happens lots of times in such kind of transactions btw, it is quite common to be done in this way. The sad thing is that Be will be closed down and Palm does not seem to care about Be's desktop OS. And there is nothing we can do about it unfortunately (except sending emails to the Palm CEO I guess, but it never worked out with JLG this strategy, why should it work out with Palm CEO? Save your mail server's bandwidth).
Well... now what. I guess it's more waiting untill we see if Plam is going to kill BeOS or not. They probley will.... <P> In anyevent I will still be using BeOS... it's never been my main OS (because the internet doesn't work well on it) but it's my faviriote, and it always will be. I will have it on my computer for years to come but I have a feeling most developers are going to leave. I bet Gobe is. Mabye not now, but in a few months... unless Palm is going to develop and market BeOS... this is very sad. I am going to wish for the best though, mabye with a lot of luck this will turn out to be a good thing. <P> It's so hard to find a decent OS, a great one is almost impossible to find. It will be sad if BeOS dies. It's a truley great OS. <P> I'm not quite sure what else to say. This is kinda a shock for me. I really thought it would be Sony... again, mabye Palm buying Be will turn out good for BeOS. I hope so... <P> Kevin / Nighthawk
this line "(Please use HTML (Linebreaks preferably) to correctly layout your comment)" needs to be bigger! I didn't notice it untill after I posted my post... is there anyway to edit my previous post?
OSNews is pretty much still under development. It went online with the new design, since I took over, just 4 days ago, so the only thing that needs some more PHP work is the comments section. I will edit the database for you and layout your comment. I believe I may have ready a new version of the Commenting System next week. 
The situation is better than before. The chances for a new BeOS on the Desktop are now not worse than they were. However, we as OS enthousiasts might get a new toy soon, a handheld BeBox if you want to see it like that. Be honest, no one of us was really interested in eVilla, but everyone of us wanted a BeOS-powered PDA, right? Anyone knows where I can get a cheap iBook?
Thanks, Eugenia! This site is very nice. Great job so far, I can't wait to see the new comment system...
Such depression is the passing of a long spent dream to sea, past the sadness, past the problems, past indignity. Alive, as we, among the system, can a user truly see, the desperate indignation of the life and death of Be?
It really doesn't look good for BeOS does it?
Having used it for quite a while, I've come to love it. I even use it as my main OS - it does everything I need, and does it well! I've held out more hope than most people. I *truly* believe that with a little effort BeOS could become a mainstream OS. But, it would need to have money pumped into the development of it, money that Palm just doesn't have right now.
I'm still clinging to the last slightest string of hope that Palm decides to carefully attempt to enter the desktop OS market, they've said they want to enter new markets, but with their current financial situation, and the fact that the desktop OS market is fierce and dominated by Microsoft, I don't think we'll see that any time soon!
I still don't understand what people don't see in BeOS, from my point of view (if I was a company and had the funding) I'd put as much effort as I could into BeOS, it's the only OS, that in my mind *could* pose a real threat to MS's dominance...if only it had the backing it needs 
I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I think I'll stick with BeOS for as long as I can, it's still a joy to use, but it'll be hard knowing that the OS has no future right now...*sigh*, I'd better stop before this get's too mushy! 
Eugenia...in response to the comments system, can't you just do "nl2br()" on the incoming comment? - It changes all "\n" characters to But you said your writing a new comments system so it probably doesn't matter!
"it's the only OS, that in my mind *could* pose a real threat to MS's dominance" <BR><BR> Sadly, history is littered with better-quality-products that failed for one reason or another. I don't see how the BeOS could pose that much of a threat to Microsoft's dominance; the world has invested billions upon billions of dollars into the Wintel platform and they're not going to throw it all away very easily. Quite frankly, why do you think Microsoft hasn't gone back and "started from scratch" anytime since Windows NT? How long did it take for NT to be adopted, and that's *with* its general Win9x compatibility? <BR><BR> The BeOS is great technology and a lovely little OS, but it doesn't offer too much that's so remarkably new that it changes the face of computing. Nothing compared to the original Macintosh, certainly, or the advent of the internet. Doing things faster and more stably can't really overcome the incredible barriers to entry that exist in the OS world. Compare that to Linux; I wouldn't exactly call Linux a stunning success at this point in time, but what it does have is a radical new development and ownership model.
Like I said *COULD* - i.e: with money, effort and determination put into it, it is the only OS I've seen that (here's that word again) *COULD* pose a threat to MS's dominanace if development was continued, and money was put in. The way it is now, BeOS could never threaten MS, but *if* BeOS was in the hands of Sony, RedHat or heck even Apple - then MS would have a reason to get worried - I mean MS officials got worried about Linux!
Sure. It could, if a company had billions of dollars they were willing to spend on an OS that could fail. And if they had a really really intelligent CEO and Marketing guys. It would take many years of really hard work, but I think it could be done. But the problem is, trying to compete with Microsoft directly in the general puporse OS market is a very risky bussiness. It's an investment that could cripple even large companies like Sony if they failed. However, if they succeed it would be very rewarding... Well, that's my theroy... Kevin
Being a Palm customer I think, that this company pays attention to what the customer wants... It is certain that this time it will happen again. If people want BeOS on the desktop or on a PDA or whatever they will deliver. Companies always work like that. If people make a fuss about it, they won't just live it like that. As a BeOS user I am very sad but at the same time happy, that there is a chance that BeOS will be on our machines from next year.... With the technology BeOS incorporates, every investment is always a good one.
"If people want BeOS on the desktop or on a PDA or whatever they will deliver" Intelligent companies stick to their markets. Palm's market is most certainly not the desktop OS market, and the BeOS would take millions of dollars and tons of time to fully develop. There's quite simply no way they would ever make the investment. It's definitely not the result I *want*, but reality doesn't always mirror my desires.
Well some current ideas are for "Helmar" to send his proposal to Palm to see what they think. A few people are considering emailing "sales@palm.com" asking when they can pre-order R6 whioh I found rather funny
There is also the idea that Palm *MAY* be willing to sell BeOS to someone if they are willing to sign a non-competitive agreement to prevent the purchaser to comeout with BeOS for handheld PC's. This idea I *REALLY* like, but who could buy it, if palm agreed?
I think the "AmigaOS plan" is pretty good...when gateway purchased AmigaOS they recieved 25,000 emails from people asking them to continue development of AmigaOS - in response to the demand Gateway announced it was going to continue development of AmigaOS. Now, there are a *LOT* of BeOS users, so heck, who knows! 
I know, Eugenia said she doesn't think we should send emails to Palm, but, what the hell, it can't hurt, either. I've already sent off one email, and plan to send more, in the hopes that someone may listen. One thing to keep in mind is to be professional. Use a spell checker, and proper english. Don't use acronyms or smiley faces. Let's at least try to show Palm that there are people out in the world that care about the future of BeOS!<BR><BR> http://www.palm.com/about/contacts.html">Palm <BR><BR> Like I said, it can't hurt ...
Eugenia, in a post above you said, "First the pigs will fly..." I believe there is a RFC at the W3C that says, "...given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." Look at Windows for proof of that. I believe also that you wrote elsewhere about the recent hire at Gobe and the potential for licensing BeOS. There is still "The Gobe Factor" to consider in all this. What about it? Could they have been part of this process all along? (If not, I think it's over.)
< < Eugenia...in response to the comments system, can't you just do "nl2br()" on the incoming comment? - It changes all "\n" characters to
Done!
Now you can just press enter and it will use the linebreaks automatically, without the need of manually adding HTML.
Thanks Eugenia...you've made our lives that little bit easier
There is still "The Gobe Factor" to consider in all this. <BR> What about it? Could they have been part of this process all along? <BR> (If not, I think it's over.) <BR> <BR> Most of you guys knew before we did. My Dad knew before I did and wrote <BR> to tell me. One way or another Gobe will not be the factor in what happens<BR> next. Our goal at this point is just to survive by getting <BR> Gobe Productive 3.0 out for Windows ASAP.<BR> <BR> By then it should be clearer what has happened to our favorite OS.<BR> -Tom<BR>
bye bye BeOS, your'll be missed.
All speculations taken for now we are left in the dark, there is no real statement that say BeOS will not continou or being developed up to a new level,which level that may be. They need a DevOS at PALM and one that's compatible with their new aquisition. BeOS as a desktop OS is, and it's already there. So there is a 50-50% chance that BeOS will survive, be updated as it can die a slow death. At least BeOS will be supported by my company untill such is definately the case. SO we all await the things to happen in the upcoming months. Off course i expect a some excuse from JLG IF/When BeOS is officially death towards the very loyal user and developerbase curently still using BeOS as their Primairy OS. As for me as a user i will continou to use BeOS but at the same time looking in other directions also. If Gobe decides to do it i will support them as well as PALM will. BeOS does it all for me now while other OSes don't have that same appeal as Be has. At the same time i am also a happy PALM user so if all goes as i like to se it go it will go hand in hand and still will be used for many years to come. May the force be with you all, Zathros.
hello eugenia i want to ask you if you will write software for beos in the future? cu krobi
FREE SOFTWARE
Jep, sorry for this. I know that's not what you want to hear.
I just hope that you learn from it. When I first saw BeOS, I was very impressed by it and thought "that's how I want my OS to be", but I knew that I wouldn't set may hopes into it. I honestly don't believe, that a closed source OS can compete with MS and Apple this days. They are just way too strong!
Look at Linux. You say it was no success? WTF? Do you know of any other OS that grew so quickly? Do you know any OS that could catch up with Mac OS and be the main competitor for Windows in Intel plattforms? I don't.
And don't forget, that Linux is in no way a desktop OS. I would even say, compared to BeOS, Linux is just crap on the private desktop (while beeing great for servers, companys and network hackers).
Just imagine what Linux could be today, if it would have the capabilities of BeOS!
Almost everybody knows Linux today, the reason it didn't really catch up to Windows is mostly, that Linux is just not the best thing since sliced bread... most Linux users are coders (like me), very experienced computer users, anti-Microsoft zealots and those who just like to be "different" cause they think it makes them leet somehow.
That's not very good.
A free desktop system like BeOS could give Microsoft a run for it's money. That's why I set my hope in the future off AtheOS.
It will take some years to reach the polish of a system like BeOS and the software diversity of a system like Linux, but I'm sure it will happen. Free software never dies.
"Palm said it has no plans to further develop the Be operating system as a standalone OS." http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6890575.html?tag=mn_hd Well, at least Palm doesn't have mushmouth like Be, Inc.
Totally agree with J. Scott Edwards... Just same feeling about BeOS and early 80-e and about current situation Seems that "market economy" supress all innovative, in opposite to all panegirics to its' flexibility.
"By then it should be clearer what has happened to our favorite OS."
Why, you know something we don't? - Seriously though, a lot of people (mainly the one's with NDA's) have posted suspicious comments about this...e.g "If only those of you whining new what was going on behind your backs, you'd hang your heads in shame" - now is it me or is that damn suspicious!
Something's going on - but nobody knows what? - BeOS is a whole damn conspiracy theory - it's more exciting than a far fetched soap opera!
::I want to ask you if you will write software for beos in the future? I have 2-3 more BeOS games and apps to release (I am waiting for the BeNews server to stabilize so I can put them online) and then probably I will move either to QT 3.0 programming under FreeBSD. I am thinking of buying an iMac too though.
"If only those of you whining new what was going on behind your backs, you'd hang your heads in shame" Only a few people were saying things like this, and they've all fizzled. The most notable was H-Kon, who went off on that topic for a few weeks. The BeOS diehards believed him, grinned, and assumed great things were, again, just around the corner. What'd it turn out to be? A typo in a ReadMe file. Not that impressive. After a long time of promises with no results, the reasonable man moves on... As for "people in the know": * Eugenia: lady who made BeNews the great site it was. Moving on to other OSes. * Leo Schwab: Great graphics driver coder; fired, moving on. * Tom Hoke: Gobe Software. Porting to Windows immediately to live. Didn't know that Be had been bought until the public did (so much for Gobe being involved). I could go on, but I don't think it's necessary. It's not so much that BeOS is a conspiracy theory as it is that some people love the OS so much that they can't admit to themselves that it has died.
I said this, and it was not in relation to any kind of conspiracy or 'whatever' going on, but about the earnest and professional effort of a group of people trying their best to keep the BeOS alive. No bragging or boasting, just trying all possible avenues when the majority seems to be quite happy to give up on the situation. Each to his own, I'd say, so please don't judge just because you don't understand.
... this banned ad on the top of this site... it reads "Download now for FREE", "The Operating System of the Future" "http://free.be.com".
That's a joke, right? BE isn't paying you for this, right??
It wouldn't make much sense.
Haha.. yes, I put that ad 2 days ago (we don't have an ad server yet, so I needed something to fill the space), and yesterday, after the news came out, I was really laughing with it. The ad says the "the OS of the future" and some pixels down the page it is clearly stated that BeOS is dead... Tragic irony I guess.
Lol. I didn't realize the "the OS of the future" part untill yopu pointed it out... I like the ad though, it looks good. You should put an AtheOS ad up...
Never trust in an proprietary operating system. If you have the source code you can use it forever. This is a reason to use Linux, AtheOS or BSDs. Be forever will be Be whenever...
Eugenia, you're not alone: I am too considering either *BSD (I think I'll rather take NetBSD than FreeBSD, I like the thought that I can run it on my Amiga, too) or, which is also very likely, to get me an iBook and dive into OS X programming. Well, as an audio enthousiast I think I can't avoid getting a Mac sooner or later - Windows audio latencies are just so horrible!
Wow...I go away for a few days...I come back and it's over?
Ahh well, I guess we all saw it coming. BeOS was a great OS, it just didn't get the backing it deserved.
I'm going to stick using BeOS for a while. But no doubt I will eventually have to look for another OS, I just can't stomach going back to Windows - I thought I'd found my life-os when I first used BeOS. The world is cruel, and so is Microsoft!
Helmar...I've heard some people say or suggest ( I can't remember ) that you are going to email the proposal you originally sent to Be, to Palm...is this true?
Also, who are these group of people trying to keep BeOS alive? I love using BeOS so much that I'm willing to do anything to help...except programming, my programming skills are rather modest
thankx for your answer do you personally think beos is dead or do you believe or know that ther will be a new version? and thankx for your cool beos software cu www.KROBI.at.tf
Linux journal once had an article that compared OS's using an analogy of both Airlines and Automotive industries. Be was compared to a fully loaded Batmobile for sale only at a single Batmobile dealership in some out of the way corner of commerceland. No amount of whiining or recrimination is going to save BeOS as an altenative OS to M$, Linux didnt hurt BeOS either, Linux is surviving FUD simply because of its installed user base. Given that Palm probably knows and understands BeOS as much as the general public. Could Palm be convinced to explore some new inniative to assist in its continued development? That brings me to Something that Gasse once said I dont recall the exact quote but something like "we designed BeOS from the ground up, with no legacys, we intend Beos to be the OS of the future,... If you want a ten second sound bite we are trying to become the LINUX of the multimedia, high bandwith world" In that good statement good people I beleive is the kernel of wisdom that will help BeOS survive and thrive. Study your GNU/LINUX history, check out the current state of the open source community, apply that to the newer licencing models. We need proactive not reactive debate to save the BeOS. So how about it Palm opensource the Desktop OS like Sun and Staroffice poking Billy and borgs in the eye, At the least sell it off dont bury it. Do we have any community leadership? Do we have any plan Be? Do we care enuff to at least try something? Aug 25, 10 years ago Linus sent out an email to small user community and look what happened folks
BeFAQ has had an interview with Palm who are "surprised" at the amount of publicity BeOS got, and is still returning calls ( probably from us worried users )
Anyway, long story short, they have agreed to discuss with the community (through BeFAQ) possibilities for the future of BeOS.
I'm edgin towards getting excited, I just hope this will perk a few people up around here...the stench around here is morbid! 
j/k
given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine Thanks for the great quote! Regarding the "death of Be" news, I personally don't see it as a death. It's evolution. Palm purchased Be's technology because they believe they can use it to add significant value (greater than $11m) to their business. Presumably, this means integrating parts of the code into their OS, to enhance the media capabilities. We're unlikely to see entirely "BeIA" powered devices, particularily since the "Be" name is not owned by Palm. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the spirit and technology of Be Inc, can live and grow, within some future version of the Palm OS. At some point, a PDA may be all the computing power most people need, particularily when true 3G wireless finally comes around. If consumer demand moves further away from desktops, towards portable devices (as Be Inc was somewhat anticipating), Palm will be in a good position to dominate. As a result of the Palm deal, it's possible that some day, most people will 'feel' and use more Be in their OS, than they do Microsoft (it certainly won't be Windows CE they'll be using). In the meantime, my needs have outgrown the final version of BeOS, along with the remaining applications. I'm thinking of moving to Linux and Win2K, but a Mac would be nice. I use HP-UX at work and will probably be moving to Linux there anytime soon (destined to dominate for most engineers, IMHO). I don't actively use a PDA anymore, and have never tried Palm, although now I'm curious. They obviously have something going for them, as they stood out from the crowd and placed at least some value on Be's IP. So, anyone have any advice on the easiest way to copy Gigs of data so I can wipe my hard disk and start over ? Good luck to you all - David