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GCN Home > August 14, 2000 issue

OS alternative is causing all the buzz

Be Inc.’s operating system installs rapidly with few problems but isn’t ready to sting the market—yet

By Michael Cheek
GCN Staff

The industry is abuzz about Linux alternatives to Microsoft Windows operating systems, but BeOS 5 deserves more than buzz—a lot more.

Be Inc.’s desktop OS doesn’t require a lot of hardware horsepower or technical expertise. Unlike Linux and Windows, BeOS installs quickly and works simply.

It looks a bit like Windows and Mac OS combined, but the underlying structure is more like that of Linux. So BeOS draws a little from each of the big-three desktop OSes.

BeOS’ main claim to fame has been its strong handling of multimedia MP3 and video files. It lacks applications to make it an all-around OS, although it does have a minor office suite, Productive 2.0 from Gobe Software Inc. of Portland, Ore.

BeOS needs beefing up in the network arena, and its browser needs Java support.



Still, BeOS flies on its own.

The primary interface is clean, like that of Mac OS. There are icons for the trash, primary hard drive and home directory. The icons can be placed pretty much anywhere on the desktop interface, as with Mac OS.

The primary menu is fixed at top right. As with the Windows Start menu, clicking the BeOS icon brings up a cascading menu that any user will find easy to work with.

The descending menus show recently used applications and documents as well as all applications and preferences. They can be configured with new folders and items, but the primary menu can’t be relocated like the Windows task bar.

One item I found confusing was Hide/Show Replicants. The word replicant does not show up in the dictionary, and at first I thought it was like a Windows shortcut or a Mac OS alias. It’s not.

According to BeOS’ documentation, a replicant is simply a replicated view, such as the BeOS clock, which can be dragged from its window and placed on the desktop. The Show Replicant command displays the handle for dragging.

More news on related topics: Product Reviews



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