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Haiku OS (a modern clone of BeOS) finally entered Beta stage after many years of development.
I installed it on both my main PC and my laptop and I'm pleased to say it works very well. Its a bit buggy, but apart from that it seems reliable enough, and is very pleasant to use.
As with any uncommon OS, it has a bit of a shortage of software, but it does at least have a reasonably up to date web browser.
Its well worth a try if you haven't used it before.
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I've been looking forward to trying this out since it was announced. Will have to try to find the time over Christmas to have a play.
Other than the browser what other software is available? Does BeOS software run?
It comes with some basic software included. There's also the 'Haiku Depot' which contains additional software which can be downloaded.
There are separate 32 bit and 64 bit versions. I haven't fully tested it myself, but I think the 64 bit version has compatibility issues with older 32 bit BeOS software.
What are the advantages to this over, say, some of the other more widespread OSs?
Nothing really. I'd say its more of a hobbyist OS rather than a Linux/Windows replacement.
I'd kind of liken it to AmigaOS in that it "works" and has some software. It probably has potential but a lot of people wouldn't want to develop for a niche OS when they can develop for something more well known like Linux.
Fair enough, perhaps I didn't really ask the question I was intending to.
What attracted you to this OS, and why not one of the other hobbyist level OS choices?
I like to try out lots of niche OSs. I played with BeOS years ago and really liked it. I've known about Haiku for a long time but haven't really bothered trying it out until recently.
Like Steve I've also been interested in this OS because of it being based on BeOS. The OS was a commercial failure because it didn't have the financial backing or momentum to push it into the mainstream at the time. It was a very nice OS and system. Originally RISC based hardware, so fast at the time, it took a lot of its ideas from both the Amiga and Mac in terms of both hardware and OS design, as well as some UI ideas from OS/2. They tried to market the original as a design OS running on its own BeBox hardware in an attempt to target the same creative market as the Apple Mac at the time. I played around with it a lot at the time at all the design trade expos.
I seem to remember it had a port of 3D Cinema but I didn't find it when I had a quick look.