BeOS Version 5 to Be Free

Be Incorporated today announced that it is shifting its resources to focus primarily on the growing Internet appliance market. In order to maximize the visibility and acceptance of Be technology, the upcoming version 5 of the BeOS desktop operating system will be available for personal use at no charge beginning later in the first quarter of 2000. At that time, individuals who register with Be at free.be.com will be able to download BeOS 5 for free. Be also intends to work with publishers and other partners to make commercial versions of BeOS 5 available through retail channels.

"The post-PC revolution of Internet appliances has started," said Jean-Louis Gassée, chairman and chief executive officer of Be. "Our customers and partners, such as Compaq, National Semiconductor, RealNetworks and Qubit, have validated our belief that Be is well positioned to play an important role in this emerging market. We want to do everything in our power to make the best use of this opportunity. Making the free version of BeOS 5 available through the Internet and other channels allows us to aggressively promote our technology, maximize our visibility and obtain valuable market feedback while aggressively pursuing Internet appliance opportunities."

As a result of this shift in resources and offering BeOS 5 for free, Be will not realize the revenues previously anticipated from sales of the desktop version of its operating system. First Call's consensus estimate of revenues for the year 2000 has been approximately $16,000,000. Analysts estimated that desktop sales for 2000 would account for approximately 85 percent of revenues. This shift will negatively impact future revenues as well.

Be's product for the Internet appliance market is code-named Stinger, a software solution for appliances that deliver information and entertainment over the web. Based on BeOS, Stinger is fully customizable, offers a complete browser and supports popular streaming audio and video standards.

BeOS 5 is the newest version of BeOS, an alternative desktop operating system designed to deliver the most satisfying experience possible on a personal computer. BeOS provides a high-performance robust platform for all applications, excelling in the areas of audio and video manipulation. Users will be able to download BeOS 5 via a web browser and store it as a file within their existing operating system (such as Windows). No repartitioning will be necessary, and launching BeOS 5 will be as simple as double-clicking an icon on the desktop.