[ot] [!nt] \n2+0\ __.. uzerfz++

[integer at www.god-emil.dk]

Be tries free software strategy again 
January 18, 2000, 12:15 p.m. PT 

Admitting that too few people are willing to pay for an alternative to Windows
operating systems, Be Inc. has decided to offer its software for free--again. 

This time, the BeOS will be available for free to any individual users who register with the
company, starting with the next version of the software, to be released this quarter. The move
portends a continued shift away from the desktop PC software and toward so-called information
appliances such as handheld devices and TV set-top boxes--an arena where Be faces more
competitors, albeit less entrenched ones than Microsoft. 

This isn't the first time the company has tried to woo
customers by offering its main product for free. When the
company failed to gain traction against Microsoft's
Windows operating system, the company's chief executive,
Jean Louis Gassee, last year offered the software for no
cost in to any PC maker that would make Be's products the
first that users see on starting up a computer. No takers
were ever announced. 

"The Internet appliance opportunity is now. We are
shifting our resources towards that opportunity, and we're
using the desktop version as our calling card (for people)
to become more familiar with BeOS technology," said Steve
Sakoman, who was named Be's chief operating officer today.

Stock in Be dropped $3, or about 15 percent, to $16.38 in
afternoon trading on the news. 

Be's decision will hurt its revenues for some time to come.
Be said it will not realize the revenues previously
anticipated from sales of the desktop version of its
operating system. That amounts to some 85 percent of the
estimated $16 million in revenue the company was expected to generate, according to a
consensus of analyst estimates compiled by First Call. 

Perhaps Be is hoping to follow in the footsteps of companies riding the coattails of the surge of
interest in Linux, another free operating system. Some Linux companies have been raking in the
cash lately, going public with billion-dollar valuations and negligible earnings. 

But in the market for free operating system software, Be has less momentum than Linux, which
is finding favor among companies wanting to use the open-source software to serve up Web
pages. Companies such as Red Hat are providing technical support and consulting services as
their primary means of income, not software sales. 

Be's focus, meanwhile, has been on providing an operating system that is tuned for audio and
video content production. The BeOS was originally targeted for use by Apple Macintosh users,
but after Apple backed out of negotiations to buy the company in 1996, Be shifted its focus to
producing an operating system for use on Intel-based PCs in March 1998. 

That strategy started to shift again in 1999, with the first visible signs being evidenced in the
company's plans to go public. Executives said they are further emphasizing the development of
products for the information appliance market as the company's best chance for growth. 

Sakoman pointed to recent announcements the company has made as evidence that the new
strategy is working. 

Be recently announced that it is working with Compaq Computer to design information
appliances such as Web terminals that would use its software. The licensing arrangement,
however, isn't a guarantee that Compaq will use Be's software, Compaq has said. More recently,
Colorado-based Qubit said it would use a version of the BeOS, code-named "Stinger," in its
upcoming tablet computer for Web surfing that's expected next year. 

"The AOL-Time Warner deal demonstrates that the landscape is really changing (for Internet
appliances). The emergence of the Internet and these new devices is just
opening up a completely different set of opportunities for software
vendors like ourselves," Sakoman said. 

Just how big that opportunity will be is anybody's guess. Right now, the
market barely exists, and it may be some time before the moves pay off.
But by 2005, market research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that the info appliance
segment, excluding Web-enabled cell phones and handheld computing devices, could total $5.6
billion in the United States alone. 

There will be plenty of companies vying for those dollars. In addition to facing competition in
the form of software from Microsoft, Liberate Technologies, Wind River Systems, Spyglass and
others, Be will face competition from Linux in the consumer electronics market as well. 

Corel Corporation said today it has entered into an agreement to acquire up to a 30 percent stake
in OE/ONE.com, an Ottawa, Ontario-based start-up company developing an Internet appliance
platform based on Corel's revisions to the Linux operating system. 

Already, TiVo, which designs digital video recorder devices made and marketed by Philips and
Sony, uses Linux in its products. 







free <=> korporat fasc!zm++

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http://www.m9ndfukc.org/nato.0+00
http://www.gmeb.fr/SoftwareCompetition/Softs99/nebulam81.htm
http://www.m9ndfukc.org/korporat/nato.0+55+3d.html
http://www.m9ndfukc.com/propaganda
http://www.m9ndfukc.com/forum/prev_released_data
http://194.19.130.194/spCa/zveite
http://www.m9ndfukc.org/korporat/=cw4t7abs.3nkod0r..0+2.html


konzp!rass!_ov-ekualz
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