BeBrilliant (BeOS 5.0)

Member Name: RocketMan

Product:	BeOS 5.0
Date:	06/09/00 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: FREE

Disadvantages: None

The BeOS 5.0 Personal Edition is just so good, you can't help yourself. The very best thing about it is that it's free to download, free to use and just so perfectly formed. If you want the Professional Edition it's going to cost real money, so my advice is to stick with the Personal Edition at least until you have worked with it for a month or so. The freebie edition installs in exactly 500Mb of disk space and on my system at least slipped in alongside Windows 98 without any bother at all. I just clicked on the install icon, answered a couple of questions, and after a couple of minutes of hard disk activity, there it was, an icon on the Windows desktop that just needs clicking to shut down Windows and reboot into Beos 5.0. That in itself is worth it's weight in gold, there are no problems with creating partions and all that sort of malarkey that makes dual booting with Linux such a pain, just click and go!
The software that comes with the operating system should keep you intrigued for a week or so, but then you will crave another fix. Your best place is BeBits.Com where ther are literally hundreds if not thousands of games and utilities waiting to be downloaded.

A top class system that is not to be missed.

(A few months later.....)

I have used BeOS now for quite some time and the main use that I have found for it is as an internet search OS. With the PC booting BeOS from a cold start in a much faster time than Windows, and the BeOS net browser (Net Positive) being just one click away from an internet connection, it is possible to connect to the internet, find the info you want, and shut down again in a very short time. If you need Java, then you could use Opera 3.6 for BeOS which gives you more bells and whistles, but you have to pay for it. It may be that the BeOS version of Opera will go free, as the Win98 version (5.0) has just gone free, so that would make it an ideal OS for someone wanting access to the int
ernet in the shortest possible time. This could be the most usefull aspect of this operating system, and only time will tell.

Summary: