The Orb Icon
Location in the BeOS: Orb is dead, long live NetPositive

Orb used to be a web browser. Now it's just a cool icon.

When visiting the Be web site, you've probably seen the above icon used in different places. Perhaps you've even wondered where the icon came from, that is, where in the BeOS you could find the object with that icon. The answer is, you can't! This week's IconWorld story is an archeological expedition into the BeOS' past.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, the BeOS was just for developers, and was only barely usable even for them. Many of the applications that come with the BeOS today did not make their appearance until fairly recently in the BeOS' lifespan. NetPositive is one of those "recent" applications.

Before NetPositive, though, the BeOS had a browser named Orb. Orb was...well..., um, NetPositive is a much better browser than Orb was. To be fair, we didn't spend a lot of time writing Orb; we were really busy writing the BeOS. Orb was just a way for people to read documentation, and oh, yeah, it could browse some web sites, too.

On the other hand, Orb had a much cooler icon than NetPositive does now. Waste not, want not; we're still using the Orb icon on the Be web site today. It might be the last piece of Orb still in use at Be!

Additional note: The Orb icon live on outside of Be, too! With permission from Be, BMorb uses the Orb, too. You can check BMorb out in BeWare!