The BeOS Paradox in 2001

I just posted this on BeNews. Re-posting here because it summarizes my thinking about the operating system that was one of the most important things in my life for the past four or five years. I’ve had to go through a lot of gear-gnashing to come to terms with the current state of things. This sums up where I stand with it today.

Many people seem to misunderstand my current position on BeOS. If my words and my actions seem contradictory, it is because of the apparent paradox of these two true statements:

1) The BeOS _marketplace_ is extinct, done for, and beyond hope of resurrection. This fact would not change even if a major new BeOS release appeared (which I feel is highly doubtful) — it’s far too late for that and too many businesses have been burned by attempting BeOS development. There is no money to be made on the platform. Without either monetary incentive or open source momentum (we have neither), the future growth and evolutionary potential of BeOS and BeOS apps is extremely limited.

2) Despite its shortcomings and missing mature applications, BeOS is the best desktop operating system ever developed, period. So good, in fact, that people will continue to enjoy finding uses for BeOS despite the truth value of #1.

I am bitter because of #1, but I still (sometimes) use and promote BeOS because of #2.

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