BeOS

BeOS
BeOS R5
DeveloperBe Inc.
Written inC++
Working stateDiscontinued
Source modelProprietary
Initial releaseOctober 3, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-10-03)
Latest releaseR5.0.3 / May 26, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-05-26)
Available inEnglish, Japanese
PlatformsIA-32
PowerPC
Kernel typeMonolithic kernel[1]
LicenseProprietary
Official websitebeincorporated.com

BeOS is a discontinued operating system for personal computers that was developed by Be Inc.[2] 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.

  1. ^ "BeOS". Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  2. ^ Finley, Klint (May 29, 2015). "This OS Almost Made Apple an Entirely Different Company". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved July 1, 2020.