BeOS Heading Into the Home Stretch

> ## BeOS Heading Into the Home Stretch

> Scot Hacker, 4/98

> 10,000 registered developers. That's how many people have signed up with Be, Inc. over the past few years to create applications for this revolutionary new operating system. If that isn't a sign of momentum for the platform, I don't know what is, but it's clear that a whole lot of geeks see a whole lot of potential in the BeOS. So we know that developers are behind the platform -- what about users?

> As anyone with real-world marketing experience can tell you, very few people buy operating systems or applications for their own sake -- people buy solutions. Over the past three years, I've written in this space about the mountains of amazing technology in BeOS, about demo applications that do things you just can't do on other platforms (thus proving that Be isn't just blowing smoke). I've referred to the steady emergence of productivity applications that make sure users are able to do all the normal things users expect to be able to do -- e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, etc. I've talked about how Be blows minds at trade shows by showing that pervasive multithreading and symmetric multiprocessing done right have real, concrete ramifications when it comes to keeping an OS responsive under multitasking loads that would bring other systems to their knees. All of this may have served to get a lot of geeks hot and bothered, but geek-time is over. It's time to bring real users into the fold.

> ### BeDC '98

> I've just spent the past weekend in Palo Alto, Ca. at this year's Be Developer's Conference, hanging out with hundreds of professional BeOS application programmers and vendors, gnoshing hors d'ouevres, learning about Be's plans for the for the coming year, ogling the goodies that will become a part of the next release, and marveling at the tremendous amount of work that's gone into making the BeOS media APIs a thing of beauty. But while all of that was very exciting, the real buzz generated by the show came in the form of a general, pervasive sense that Be has rounded a critical corner: From being an operating system in potentia to an OS that has what it takes to attract users in massive numbers. Be's registered developers have been running on a single assumption: Build it and they will come. Or, more specifically, build something really outstanding, and the public will bang down your door.

> Based on what I saw at the BeDC last weekend, that time has come. Along with the upcoming release of BeOS (R4.5, code-named "Genki," which is Japanese for "all is well"), a whole lot of applications will be coming home to roost. Be has made good on the promise of delivering a media-optimized operating system, and developers have gone forth to develop media applications that will take advantage of the infrastructure Be has provided. BeOS is no longer a curiosity, an object to be regarded from a distance. Three separate vendors (Adamation, Mediapede, and MGI) showed off video-editing suites designed to let normal users with normal hardware manipulate video streams in real time. At least one of these tools operates with an internal frame-rate of 100fps, and lets you apply effects to your video footage while it's running. While some of these tools are aiming at the consumer and "prosumer" markets, others are looking to offer AVID-quality video production values on affordable hardware. I watched as a DJ manipulated and "scratched" MP3 files in software from the helm of physical turntables (using a hardware/software solution called FinalScratch), enjoying a tenth of the audio latency he would have if a similar product existed for Windows. I watched as complex MIDI patch networks were built and tweaked graphically, as if sonic LEGO cities were being constructed before my eyes. I saw a thousand dollars worth of audio compressor/limiter/equalizer hardware reduced to a few hundred bucks worth of software (by IK Multimedia's port of T-Racks to the BeOS). I saw a Web graphics application called e-Picture elegantly merging vector and bitmap graphics, creating animations, seamlessly importing and deforming 3-D models, and exporting Web-optimized GIFs and pre-fab JavaScript. I could go on, but the point is that this stuff isn't vaporware -- it's real, it's either here or nearly here, and it means that people who don't care about operating system minutiae now have access to real applications -- real solutions -- that will make them more productive than they would be on other platforms. It's a pretty simple equation, really.

> So this is the buzz that bubbled under this year's BeDC -- the BeOS community is not just comprised of visionaries -- it's made of real software engineers who see a tremendous opportunity to make a real living by selling real solutions on a viable platform; a platform that offers countless advantages over existing solutions on more-established platforms. Accordingly, Be is cranking up the marketing machine to raise public awareness. People are getting real work done, and the platform is building a full head of steam. We're not following a vapor trail here, folks, and no, we're not crazy. We just want things to be better than they are now. Is that so wrong?

> ### All Is Well

> Release 4.5 is currently scheduled for release in June of 1999. While making good on the MediaOS promise is the main focus of the release, Genki has other tricks up its sleeve as well. USB keyboards and mice will be supported, a new utility for importing images from digital cameras is to be included with the system, and the OS will, for the first time, be capable of integrating into existing Windows networks via the addition of a new CIFS/Samba client known as "World o' Networking." Yet more audio and video hardware will be supported thanks to additional drivers, and developers will enjoy improved development and debugging tools. The release also prominently features a new MediaPlayer application, capable of handling any audio or video stream for which a codec is installed (and R4.5 will include many new codecs).

> But one of the most impressive additions to BeOS will be a graphical audio mixing system tentatively called "3dsound," which lets users treat audio tracks as though they were physical objects, capable of being picked up and moved in around in three dimensions (the z axis maps to volume). Drag a track through space with your mouse, and the placement of that sound in the room shifts accordingly, in real time. 3dsound also offers very sophisticated looping and sequencing possibilities through a more traditional, linear interface. While 3dsound will be provided with the system in some kind of function-limited form, a complete version will be available as a separate purchase through Be's online software store, BeDepot. This move into software sales aside from the operating system itself marks a first for Be, though the company is very sensitive about not wanting to step on developers' toes.

> It's difficult to describe 3dsound in words -- users really need to see and hear the application in order to appreciate it fully. 3dsound stands as a sterling example of the kind of "new world" applications that will serve as inspirations to the digital universe: If you want to do futuristic computing, you'll need to do it on a futuristic platform.

> An early screenshot of 3dsound can be seen here, though the application has become even more impressive since this shot was taken.