BeOS. Continue.

Limitations within each of these operating systems made them suboptimal for the computing needs that emerged in the early to mid 1990's. Add-ons were used to keep these operating systems up-to-date. However, the add-ons were often "ugly code," creating additional complexity and system instability. Like race cars powered by souped-up lawnmower engines, computers were being run with code not originally intended to handle the special needs associated with modern computing.

Conclusion

The founders of Be, Inc. recognized a need for an operating system written from the ground up. They based their efforts on the idea than a modern operating system should be designed from scratch to address modern computing needs, including the use of multiple processors, support for advanced graphics editing, multi-tasking and multi-threading, 64-bit file system support, and full network support.

Also, being veterans of Apple, Be's founders believed in making computers simple and easy to use. The result of their efforts is BeOS, a way of running a computer that uses modern, compact code, and that makes a computer simpler and easier to use than one running Windows. Much of the software code of BeOS has been made available to the public, making it easier for programmers to write good, stable programs for the BeOS. Currently, relatively few computers use BeOS right now, which is why there are few programs written for it.

However, Be has done so many things right that there is good reason to expect the number of applications available for the BeOS to continue to increase. For the enthusiast, Be has opened up much of the code for the BeOS, making it easier to program in than Windows or the MacOS. For those too busy to monkey with their computers, BeOS has provided what is perhaps the simplest, easiest, and most elegant way to use a computer available, having combined elements of the MacOS, Windows, and Linux. And, in a feature that helps everyone, BeOS makes computers run much faster than either Windows or MacOS. Magazine reviewers reported that both these operating systems seemed slow and unresponsive in comparison with BeOS.