Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Mon 2nd Jun 2003 06:10 UTC
No, BeOS is not dead as many will speed to the forums and proclaim. YellowTAB's Zeta is the true inheritor of BeOS 5's fortune, as it is based directly on Dano/EXP's codeline (which was supposed to be BeOS 6 but was never finished as Be sold its IP to Palm). At last, I got my hands on Zeta Beta-5a, and here is what I found and think of it so far. You might need to have some experience with BeOS in order to follow this article, but screenshots are included to make it easier for everyone.
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>Didn't you learn anything from the Be experience?
I have. But open source doesn't guarantee ANYTHING either. Especially development. Especially good debugging. Especially professionalism with usability engineers with guts to kick the nuts of the engineers when they don't listen. Closed source development has its high points and its low points. Open Source development has also high points and low points.
At this point in time I prefer YTAB over any other BeOS project, just because YTAB's OS *works* and it is ready for consumption. This is their main advantage. As a consumer, I don't want to wait years, I want something NOW. And YTAB is able to provide me with that today.
It is simple economics.
>With closed-source applications you always have the risk of the company dying
I can tell you my friend, I have seen a zillion OSS projects die because their developers just lost interest. It is the same danger. Always. You can never guarantee anything.
> If Be couldn't make BeOS fly, what makes you think these guys will?
I don't think it. I don't believe that they have many chances of sell enough to sustain them. Still, I do prefer them over any other BeOS OSS project, just because their product is something I can use TODAY.
> It's pretty clear they're not half the company Be was.
What do you expect when they have 5-6 people overall, and Be had 105 in its high day with over 70 engineers? Kinda unfair comparison, don't you think?