RELEASED March 19, 1998
For more information contact
In the U.S. and Pacific:
Alex Osadzinski, alex@be.com
(650) 462-4126
In Europe:
Jean Calmon, jcalmon@beeurope.com
(33) 1 49 06 73 75
BE SHIPS BEOS RELEASE 3 FOR INTEL PENTIUM PERSONAL COMPUTERS
BE DEVELOPER CONFERENCE ATTENDEES RECEIVE BEOS RELEASE 3 TODAY
MENLO PARK, Calif (March 19, 1998) -- Be, Inc. announces today the shipment
of the Be Operating System Release 3, the first version to run on Intel
Pentium-based personal computers. The BeOS can be purchased via Be's
Internet web site (http://www.be.com/).
Simultaneous with this announcement, Be delivered retail copies of BeOS
Release 3 to all attendees of today's Be Developer Conference in Santa
Clara, California.
"With Release 3, we now run on both Intel and PowerPC platforms and
naturally extend the market for our developers. We believe there is value
in running multiple windows of 30 frames per second video combined with a
dozen or more CD quality audio tracks, all at the same time." said
Jean-Louis Gasse, CEO of Be. "Just as Linux is the specialty OS for the
Internet, the BeOS is a specialty OS for digital video and audio, designed
to run alongside general purpose OSes like Windows 95 and the Mac OS."
Be delivered three major releases of the operating system over the past
year. The first public commercial release (Preview Release 1) was shipped
in July, 1997. Preview Release 2 was delivered in October, 1997, and only 8
months after the first release, Release 3 is now available to customers.
Since Preview Release 2, Be has passed these milestones:
* Three hundred new BeOS applications released.
* Over twenty new applications are bundled with the PowerPC version,
bringing the total number of bundled applications to sixty.
* The number of registered Be developers jumped from 4,400 to 5,700.
* More than one million copies of the BeOS distributed.
Availability and Pricing
The BeOS Release 3 for Intel Pentium systems is available for purchase via
the Be Internet web site (http://www.be.com/). The PowerPC version of the
BeOS will be ready on April 20th, 1998 and will be automatically shipped to
customers who elect to receive it.
Pricing:
* $99.95 in the US ($69.95 introductory pricing for a limited time)
* FF700 (FF840.20 withVAT), in Europe/Africa/Eastern Europe (FF490
(FF590.94 with VAT) introductory pricing for a limited time)
BeOS Release 3 includes both Intel Pentium and PowerPC versions -- 2 CDs
and one floppy disk, and a printed user's guide.
Customers who purchased PowerPC versions of the BeOS Preview Release 1 or
Preview Release 2 will receive Release 3 (both Intel Pentium and PowerPC
versions) for free when the PowerPC version is available.
Registered Be Developers will be sent BeOS Release 3 beginning March 23rd.
Be plans to announce additional channels of distribution for the BeOS, as
well as country-specific channels, over the next few months. Information on
distribution and customer support can be found on Be's web site.
New Hardware Support. Hardware supported by the BeOS now includes many
Intel Pentium, Pentium with MMX technology, Pentium Pro, and Pentium II
based personal computers. Continued support for most PowerPC 603 or 604
Power Macintosh compatible computers will be delivered with the PowerPC
version of the BeOS on April 20th, 1998. The BeBox Dual 603 personal
computer is also supported.
Installation and Boot Management. The Intel Pentium version of the BeOS
includes PartitionMagic from PowerQuest to allow users to dynamically
partition their hard drives and ease the entire BeOS installation process.
In addition, PowerQuest provides boot management utilities allowing users
to run a number of installed operating systems. The PowerPC version of the
BeOS continues to ship with built in boot management tools.
User Interface Improvements. The BeOS user interface is the same on all
hardware platforms. User interface improvements include more powerful find
options, intelligent handling of unknown documents, additional scripting
support, improved window management, and increased video resolutions.
Extended Internet Support. Networking in the BeOS is based upon the
Internet standard TCP/IP protocol. The BeOS ships with an integrated,
DOJ-approvedSM Internet web browser and server allowing you to view and
publish web pages from the moment of installation. The bundled web server
has an improved user interface to allow for quick configuration and better
access tracking.
System Wide Data Translation Services. The BeOS includes the Translation
Kit that allows developers to easily support many standard data types such
as graphics (e.g. JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF etc...) and video. This kit is an
open API allowing developers to provide additional add-on translation
services. Developer tools like these reduce the time to market for BeOS
application development.
About Be
Be, Inc., founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gasse, is a software company
focusing on building new foundations for the next generation of digital
content and media design tools. With a team of industry-leading engineers
and business executives in the United States and Europe, the company is
dedicated to removing the limitations of existing computer architectures
and delivering a new level of price performance. In 1997, Be published the
first public releases of the Be Operating System (BeOS), the core product
of this strategy. Additional information on Be and the BeOS is available
online at http://www.be.com/. Be, Inc. is headquartered in Menlo Park,
California.
