I am an independent software developer. I just downloaded Be and I am very impressed. I would like to know approximately how many active Be users there are. I cannot help but notice that there is not too many software packages available for Be. If someone like me was to develop (commercial) software for Be, what software packages are in demand? Konan

Well, that is a good question. If you have looked at Bebits.com and GoBe.com you will notice that there are a lot of free programs that help out but not equal in all cases to the Windows world. Just because BeOS is much better in almost all ways doesn't mean it was profitable. OpenBeOS has a chance to make a dent in the Linux world if some on them realize they are moving in the wrong direction. I would say my best wishes to you and if I could learn to program I would try my hand at BeOS before the windows world. That is what happens when you get old. A 21 day book has taken me 150 days and I am only on day 3. My suggestion would be to follow a red hat model for beos. Support OpenBeos first and then you would have a better base to launch apps and service and support to the OpenBeos users.

I still use BeOS as my primary os at home, and will continue to do so for as long as possible. Work is different, so unless someone creates a pharmacy program for BeOS (the advantages of using BeOS for this are too many to list) I'm stuck with win2k at work. I have bought several astronomy apps for windows, and that is probably what I miss most in BeOS - I sure wish someone would create a BeOS clone of Starry Night Pro or TheSky! I'll gladly drop the cash for that!!