BeOS Review

Just weeks away from the heavily delayed release of the next major upgrade to the aging Windows 95 Operating System, there is a new threat for Microsoft to begin paying more attention to.  In the past the only competition Microsoft had in the PC market was itself, high end users were confined to the Windows NT platform, while everyone else dealt with the watered down Windows 95 platform.
Those were the only two real options in the PC world, if you are happy with your current OS and are just looking for something more or if you are down right displeased with Windows and want an avenue of escape, may we interest you in a new letter of the alphabet?  Be.

Pronounced 'Bee,' the Be Corporation has been in the industry for quite some time now.  Founded during the early 90's, Be began development on a next generation Operating System in 1995.  Shortly after their original announcements and press releases their BeOS was first seen running on an Apple Macintosh computer, with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that closely resembled Apple's own MacOS GUI.  After announcing the product as a direct competitor to the MacOS, Be also announced that they would be (no pun intended) porting the BeOS to the Intel Pentium II Platform, essentially meaning that the BeOS would collide with the PC world it had evaded for so long. 

Considered a match in heaven, the BeOS with its support for up to 8 processors and taking advantage of all of them, and the Intel based PC Platform, with an already incredible user base and an ever expanding processor family.  From the looks of the preview, the BeOS appeared to be nothing more than the MacOS that could be run on a PC. 

While quite a few PC users tend to shy away from mentioning that forbidden name, the MacOS does have its benefits over Windows - at the same time, Windows does offer a significant amount of enhancements over the MacOS.   Consider the BeOS the best of both worlds, multitasking and multi-threaded operation being its strongpoint and with a user friendly nature under its belt. 

Move over Microsoft, it's time for someone else to grab the lime light, in Windows 95's hour of reign it is time for a swarm of bees to cash in on their 15 minutes of fame.  Strap yourself in as AnandTech takes an in-depth look at the "hot headed teenager" of the Operating System world, stop wondering about where you want to go today, and get ready to Be.