In 1990, the former Apple The Executive Director of Jean-Louis Gass incorpected a new enterprise with the aim of shaking the Silicon Valley.
To be included, or, as it became known, “to”, left a long impact on the global technological sector, despite the fact that they ultimately entered into relative obscurity. Target? To create a new one operating system Using C ++ complete with additional equipment.
Gathering efforts with Steve Sakoman, a colleague on an apple leader, duet reportedly He began to develop a prototype of a desktop computer a day after Gassi left the technical giant.
The bilateral approach BE to achieve dominance in the silicone valley concentrated on the BEOS operating system and the Bebox computer.
The first was released in 1995 and was surprisingly ahead of his time, being construction mainly as “media”, aimed at fighting the expected onslaught of digital media in the coming years.
This included support for analog and digital audio, with later versions offering users a complete 32-bit color schedule, virtual desktop (known as “jobs”), and then with support for the browser.
Initially, the operating system was designed for launch on PowerPC -based processors, but, of course, later comes with Bebox device.
Under the hood of Bebox
Released in 1995, Bebox PC was the flagship product of the company on Beos. Short -lived Workstation I boasted two PowerPC processors, as well as the user input board -Geekport.
At the first release of the Dual PowerPC processor, they turned on the colossal 66 MHz, but later updated to 133 MHz.
It is safe to say that Bebox did not quite release competitions from the water. There are few exact details about sales volumes, but It is considered limitedThe field is believed that about 1000 66 MHz were sold, with later, more powerful models that record about 800 sales.
Be confusing the production of the device in early 1997.
Beos continued until he turned to the millennium, although with a limited user base compared to others in the market. While the company did not reveal the number of users in the OS, it is believed that in 1999 it worked for 100,000 devices in 1999.
The OS was for some, was considered as a leading alternative to Windows and Mac operating systems.
The intersection of ways
It is noteworthy that the launch of BE and his attempts to shake the hardware industry appeared at the same time when Steve Jobs was in his interval from Apple. Indeed, the fate of the company relied on the success of Jobs with his own enterprise, then.
Soon after the release, Beos Apple abandoned the notorious Copland project aimed at modernizing the Macintosh operating system.
Naturally, BEOS was in the crosshair, and in 1996 the technical giant made an official application of $ 120 million, which was originally rejected. A late bit of 200 million dollars was also rebuffed, and Gassia intended to keep the company for an offer for $ 275 million.
As a result, Apple turned her attention elsewhere, finding the perfect answer to her problems with the OS in the form of Nextstep operating system.
The financial struggle in the company led to mass layouts in 2001, and the company was acquired by Palm for a fee of $ 11 million. Gassia remained on the spot during the transition, but left in early 2002, having finished his participation in the company.
