Microsoft's Strange Obsession with Be, Inc.
Contributed by Jason Christie
osOpinion.com
May 23, 2001
Microsoft and its leader Mr. Gates have been spellbound by Be for years.
In This Story:
All in Fun
Un-Clever Coincidences
Related Stories
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) apparently has Be, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEOS) on the brain. Not long ago, the Be family of operating systems was referred to as technically "great" by Microsoft representative Doug Miller in a Slashdot editorial. Miller reportedly said "BeOS is a great operating system technically." Similarly, Microsoft co-opted the code name "Stinger" for the company's new line of smart phones. Stinger is the old name for BeIA.
Then Microsoft used the tractor beam on Qubit, DT Research as well as Compaq. Apparently this is business as usual for Microsoft. The company's recent escapades have me convinced that the Department of Justice was named by an Orwell fan.
Be, Inc. has been on Microsoft's radar ever since the BeBox was in beta, but I think things got really personal at the Computer Chronicle's Quiz Bowl several years ago. For those of you unfamiliar with this bit of computing history, I'll recount.
Everyman's friend Bill Gates was the moderator. A certain Jean-Louis Gassee was a competitor. The question from Gates was (and I am paraphrasing) "What is the name of the yearly contest on Usenet in which the object is to produce the most convoluted C code that still produces a working program?"
According to many, JLG's brilliant answer was: "What is Windows?" As you might have imagined, Mr. Gates was not amused.
All in Fun
And then there's BeDope. While not an official Be, Inc. site, BeDope undeniably reflected the attitudes of many Be, Inc. employees.
A popular site, even outside of the BeOS community, BeDope was filled with stories such as Bill Gates crashing Windows '98 during a demo, and then rebooting into BeOS for the remainder of the demo. "It would be sort of like this, except slower and less stable," he supposedly said. (Again, I am paraphrasing.)
Does anyone remember CES? Two of the three products nominated for Best of Show were BeIA devices: the Sony Evilla, and Qubit's Webpad, the Orbit. A few scant months later, Qubit had essentially ditched BeIA in favor of everyone's favorite performer, Windows CE.
Apparently, Qubit's new customers demanded Internet Explorer. Best of Show? Bah. A meaningless accolade, apparently. McDonald's, oops, Microsoft wins again.
Un-Clever Coincidences
Compaq was once one of the bigger partners Be, Inc. had in the Internet appliance game. The deal now seems more like a diversionary tactic, and a way to steal information. If Compaq's BeIA device foot-dragging wasn't bad enough, Compaq allegedly turned over proprietary info regarding Be, Inc. to Microsoft.
Did anything at all come of it? Why not? With partners like these, who needs enemies?
Far be it from me to suggest anything untoward about the computer industry. This is all a coincidence, right? Peapod (Nasdaq: PPOD), an online grocer, currently has a stock price triple that of Be, Inc. Hand-delivered Spam is worth much more than a technically advanced operating system, right?
If you believe that, I have some Pets.com stock I'd like to sell you. |
