Be Makes Complete BeOS Available
For Internet Download

RELEASED NOVEMBER 11, 1997

For more information contact

In the U.S. and Pacific:
Alex Osadzinski, alex@be.com
+1 (650) 462-4126

In Europe:
Jean Calmon, jcalmon@beeurope.com
+33 1 49 06 73 75

BE MAKES COMPLETE BEOS AVAILABLE
FOR INTERNET DOWNLOAD

MENLO PARK, Calif. (November 11, 1997) -- Today Be., Inc. announced Internet download availability of the second public release of its ground-breaking operating system, the BeOS Preview Release 2. Developers and users wishing to run the BeOS can now download an unrestricted version of the product free of charge from Be's web site at <http://www.be.com/products/beos_download/>.

"The BeOS was born on the Web," said Jean-Louis Gassée, President and CEO of Be, Inc. "We designed the product to be compact and Internet-friendly. Making the complete BeOS available on the Internet is the next natural step in our company's, and our product's, evolution."

The download version includes all the components needed to run the BeOS on a wide variety of PowerMacs and compatibles. Although the download is only 9 megabytes in size, this includes the complete core OS, an email client, a web browser, personal web server, ftp client and server, telnet client and server, remote access capabilities, command line tools and demonstration applications. The downloadable version of the BeOS has been designed to be simple to install, and includes detailed instructions.

In addition to this core OS package, there are seven supplemental packages, also available for free download:

• Documentation Package
  User-level technical and product documentation, including the 200+ page BeOS User's Guide.

• Demo Apps Package
  Demonstration applications that ship on the BeOS CD.

• 2 Video/Graphics Goodies Packages
  Video and still image files to play with, and play on, the BeOS.

• MIDI Package
  A software MIDI synthesizer, instrument files, and MIDI music files to turn the BeOS system into a musical instrument.

• Developer Package
  Metrowerks CodeWarrior for the BeOS, the Be Book programming documentation, and large amounts of sample code.

• Geek Package
  Command line tools for pros.

Availability & Pricing

Customers wishing printed documentation and/or a complete BeOS CD can place orders on Be's web site at <http://www.be.com/purchase/ordering/beos_order_form.html>. Pricing is:

• $49.95 for the retail package which includes a printed user's guide and next two releases, on supported hardware, for free.

• $9.95 for the trial package which includes electronic documentation and no future releases.

For European orders, customers should visit <http://www.beeurope.com/English/BeOS/order.html>, where they can order the two packages for FF380 and FF79 respectively, including sales tax, for rapid local fulfillment.

Future Releases

BeOS Release 3 is expected in Q1 1998 and will be the first commercial release to support both Intel Architecture and PowerPC systems. While the main thrust for Release 3 is support for Intel Architecture machines, it will also feature a number of other enhancements including significant performance boosts with support for 3D hardware acceleration and 100 Megabit Ethernet.

About Be

Be, Inc., founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gassée, is a software company focusing on building new foundations for the next generation of digital content and media design tools. With a team of industry-leading engineers and business executives in the United States and Europe, the company is dedicated to removing the limitations of existing computer architectures and delivering a new level of price performance.

In 1997, Be is publishing the first public releases of the Be Operating System (BeOS), the core product of this strategy. Additional information on Be and the BeOS is available online at http://www.be.com/. Be, Inc. is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.