Company type | Public |
---|---|
Nasdaq: BEOS | |
Industry | Computer hardware Computer software |
Founded | c. October 1990 |
Founder | |
Defunct | March 15, 2002[1] |
Fate | Dissolved |
Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, United States[2] |
Key people | Jean-Louis Gassée (CEO) |
Products | BeOS, BeBox, BeIA |
Number of employees | 98 (as of 1998)[3] |
Website | be.com at the Wayback Machine (archived October 9, 2001) |
Be Inc. was an American computer company that created and developed the BeOS and BeIA operating systems, and the BeBox personal computer.[4] It was founded in 1990 by former Apple Computer executive Jean-Louis Gassée, who also served as the company's CEO, and was based in Menlo Park, California.
The company's main intent was to develop a new operating system using the C++ programming language on a proprietary hardware platform; although the result received a mainly positive reception, it had little commercial success. BeOS was initially exclusive to the BeBox before being ported to the Power Macintosh and then to the Intel x86 architecture. After a stint in Internet appliances with BeIA, Be's assets were purchased by Palm, Inc. in 2001.