BeOS is a discontinued operating system for personal computers that was developed by Be Inc. It was conceived for the company's BeBox personal computer which was released in 1995. BeOS was designed for multitasking, multithreading, and a graphical user interface. The OS was later sold to OEMs, retail, and directly to users; its last version was released as freeware.
Early BeOS releases are for PowerPC. It was ported to Macintosh and then x86. Be was ultimately unable to achieve a significant market share and ended development with dwindling finances, so Palm acquired the BeOS assets in 2001. Enthusiasts have since created derivate operating systems including Haiku, which will retain BeOS 5 compatibility as of Release R1.
Development
BeOS is the product of Apple Computer's former business executive Jean-Louis Gassée, with the underlying philosophy of building a "media OS" capable of up-and-coming digital media and multi-processors. Development began in the early 1990s, initially designed to run on AT&T Hobbit-based hardware before being modified to run on PowerPC-based processors: first...