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Spotlight on: BeatWare |
Anyone who has been a long-time follower of the BeOS has almost certainly heard of BeatWare. As one of the very first publishers of BeOS software, their history parallels that of Be quite closely. Like Be, BeatWare is a relatively small startup. Dedicated exclusively to BeOS software development, BeatWare's mission is to create "essential software" for the BeOS. They have remained faithful to that mission by releasing a family of software products which include the first commercial drawing and paint programs for the BeOS, as well as the first commercial word processing and spreadsheet programs. BeatWare also boasts a successful email package, Mail-It.
At the March 98 BeDC, BeatWare recently announced and demonstrated two new up-and-coming technologies, FreeStyle interface technology, which enables users to customize their software to match their individual work-styles, and Relay collaboration technology, which allows users to collaborate on a single shared document over a LAN or the internet. These technologies will be integrated with upcoming releases of BeatWare's graphics and page layout software. What's more, BeatWare also revealed that their flagship products will be receiving a new look and more of the features that their users have requested.
As one of the Be's more established software developers, and with exciting new technology on the horizon, it seemed like a great time to to catch up with BeatWare, in the person of Karen Cassel, BeatWare's VP of Sales and Marketing.
Developer Spotlight: Karen, tell us a little bit about the BeatWare team...
Karen Cassel: BeatWare's a technology driven company. We spend most of our time and resources developing exciting new technologies that take full advantage of the capabilities of the BeOS. So, in a company of 11 people, 8 are software engineers!
Two of the remaining three, myself included, are marketing types. It's our job to turn those technologies into finished products that really provide users with capabilities they didn't have before on other platforms. We're also responsible for packaging, promotion, pricing, distribution, the web-site, advertising and PR and customer support. You could say that trying to keep up with the work of 8 engineers is a pretty big task.
And last but not least there's Pamela. She keeps us smiling, does just about everything else and is really responsible for keeping the place running.
DS: Are all of your team members on site?
KC: Actually, three of our engineers are in France.
DS: How long has BeatWare been developing for the BeOS?
KC: BeatWare was founded in March of 1997, but our CEO, Marc Verstaen started developing long before that, in July of 1995.
DS: What was Marc doing in 1995?
KC: At that time, Marc, was the CEO of a company called Lorienne in France. He became interested in the BeOS after hearing about it through a friend. He began developing the framework for a word processor independently, building the internal architecture and gaining proficiency in the BeOS. In 1997, he moved to the US to begin BeatWare and develop for the BeOS full time.
DS: What is the background of the average BeatWare programmer? How did they come to join your team to develop for the BeOS?
KC: All of BeatWare's developers are fairly experienced Be developers. A number of them were previously Amiga developers, in search of another alternative to the MacOS and Windows. They were drawn to the BeOS by its multiprocessing capabilities and easy to learn, multithreaded API.
DS: Are you currently hiring?
KC: We're always looking for developers. Additionally, because we have a completely open API, our products are all extensible, so we really encourage other programmers to write add-ons and plug-ins for our products. We're very interested in helping developers write and publish compatible products.
DS: Speaking of products, what are you currently working on?
KC: Right now we are spending the bulk of our time finishing our image editing and vector-based drawing engines. As those who attended the BeDC already know, we've added layers, alpha channels and some very advanced object technology to our Paint product. We've also developed FreeStyle, a user customizable interface, that we're adding to all our applications so users can create a working environment that feels most comfortable to them. You can expect to see these products (for both PPC and Intel) to hit the streets in the coming months.
And of course, there is everyone's favorite, Mail-It. A version 2.0 of Mail-It will also be out in a few months and this version will include a number of user requested features. For those of you out there that have been sending us wish lists - keep them coming!
DS: What about the new Relay technology announced at the BeDC?
KC: Relay technology enables users working at different networked computers to work collaboratively on a document in real-time. While similar technologies exist on other platforms, they don't work as efficiently. Typically, these programs continuously transmit the entire file between users whereas the BeatWare technology sends only updates, which greatly reduces the delay time between making the changes on one machine and seeing the changes on the other. We have been testing this on image files shared between a computer here in California and one in France, with delay times of no more than a second.
DS: You mentioned that BeatWare is interested in helping other developers write plug-ins and add-ons for your applications. What resources does BeatWare offer developers interested in creating compatible utilities and applications?
KC: Right now, we have AppSketcher, a WYSIWYG interface builder, which we are using internally. We are planning to release this as a part of a BeatWare Software Development Kit, which will also include API documentation, and other useful items.
DS:How does development on the BeOS compare to developing for other platforms?
KC:Our developers find that developing for the BeOS is much easier than developing for other platforms, primarily due to the great API and documentation. Development also goes much more quickly thanks to the C++ kits and the protected memory which makes debugging less painful.
DS:Which features of the BeOS do your engineers appreciate the most? depend on the most?
KC: The two biggies seem to be multithreading and protected memory.
DS:Are there any aspects of Developing for the BeOS that you find difficult/problematic?
KC: The two complaints I hear most often is that the multithreaded aspect of the BeOS leads to problems with synchronization and that the compiler and debugger are insufficient.
DS:What was the risk/perceived risk in developing for the BeOS?
KC: Well, the most obvious risk, and perhaps the most frightening risk is that we won't have a market for our products. We certainly are greatly dependent on Be's ability to deliver an installed base capable of running BeatWare products.
DS:What's your perception of the market for Be software currently?
KC: Since the Intel release (R3) our web site traffic has doubled. We currently have several thousand people using BeatWare products.
DS:How does the new Intel version of the BeOS affect your development plans?
KC: The great news is that the Intel version of the BeOS vastly increases the size of our potential market, so we are just now throwing our development plans and marketing efforts into high gear to address this new and huge audience.
The bad news is that the Intel version appears even further behind in terms of printing support and support for other input and output drivers that our customers need to use our software effectively. Until such drivers are developed, our potential market is still confined to the early adopter market.
DS: What would you like to see from the BeOS in the future with regard to development and performance?
KC: We'd like to see more generalized support for common hardware such as printers and SCSI, better virtual memory management, better network tools and network kit, much better compiler and debugger, more consistency in the UI, and increased speed.
DS: What would you like to see from Be in terms of developer support in the future?
KC: Overall, we've been fairly pleased with the support we've received from Be. We've been able to reach a large portion of the Be Community through the channels that Be has provided such as the Be Website, the BeDC, the Be booth at various tradeshows, Be User Group kits, etc.
The one area where I feel that Be could improve in terms of developer support would be in their regular communication with developers. As we are in the position of having to plan our product features and releases around the availability of certain OS capabilities, we depend upon Be to keep us up to date and to let us know of changes in supported functionality or slips in release date. While we've always been able to get this information, we've ofen had to make several calls and ask numerous people to get the straight scoop.
DS: When you talk to potential Be software developers about developing for the BeOS, what is the most common question you get asked?
KC: "Are you profitable?"
DS: And are you?
KC: We now have thousands of people using BeatWare products. As for profitability; "Not yet, but by Q2 1999."
Is there a company or product that you think should be in the Spotlight? Please let us know! Write to devservices@be.com
