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发信人: linuxrat (叫我老鼠错不了), 信区: Linux
标 题: Be goes pub, but doubts persist about its future
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Thu Dec 30 18:23:41 1999)
hoho~~~~ Happy hacking....what? Of course what it should Be. :)))
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Be goes public, but doubts persist about its future
By Michael Kanellos and Stephen Shankland
Staff Writers, CNET News.com
July 20, 1999, 1:05 p.m. PT
Operating system developer Be Incorporated launched its initial
public offering today, but some wonder if the company's too late to
the party.
Be's stock opened at 6 and edged up 2.06 on its first day of
trading, but software developers and analysts say that the
company's window of opportunity to become a force in computing may
already be closed.
The status of the company's operating system, the BeOS, as an
alternative to operating systems from Microsoft or Apple Computer
has largely been supplanted by Linux. Be's main target
market--operating systems for so-called Internet appliances such as
TV set-top boxes--is competitive and nearly nonexistent so far.
Furthermore, profits, partners, customers, and support from
software developers also remain elusive.
More from CNET Investor
Quotes delayed 20+ minutes
"The technology is fine, but it's a little late," said Lou
Mazzuchelli, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison. "If you are
going to go with one of the off-the-beaten-path OSes, you will go
with Linux."
Be, he added, has "a very tough road ahead of them."
A look at Be's opening price provides argument for both supporters
and detractors. The stock rose to 8.5 a share by 11:30 a.m. PT, 2.5
over the opening price. But Be had originally planned an opening
price between 8 to 10.
Risky business
Be was founded in 1990 by former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gass閑
as, essentially, an alternative to Apple. The Be system stressed
ease and multimedia. Demonstrations of BeOS prototypes became a
standard, and often well-attended, part of many technology
conferences in the mid-1990s.
In 1996, Apple attempted to negotiate a purchase of Be, but
discussions foundered over price. Apple eventually chose to
purchase Next Software, which was run and part-owned by Apple
cofounder Steve Jobs, for $400 million, far more than the company
was offering Be.
Since then, Be has been developing its operating system and landing
some bundling deals with companies like Hitachi and Microworkz.
Outside investors include Intel.
This past February, the company offered to give its system free to
computer makers on the condition that it was the first interface a
consumer would see. Few takers arrived. In May, the company more
seriously began discussing the Net appliance market.
The company will issue six million shares in the public offering
and use the money for, among other tasks, increasing its sales and
research budgets and kicking off a "Be Everywhere" campaign,
according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Be frankly lays out the risks inherent in the operating system
field in the forms filed with the SEC. Among other challenges, the
company states that it is trying to compete against existing
institutions with greater technical, marketing, and financial
resources. Success depends upon gaining the support of software
developers, which may never occur. The Net appliance field looks
promising but may never completely take off.
In addition, the company states: "We have only one product that may
never gain broad market acceptance."
In the past three years, Be's revenue has climbed but so have
losses. In 1998, revenues came to $1.2 million, but net losses
totaled to $16.9 million. For the first quarter of 1999, revenues
grew to $309,000, but losses came to $5.8 million. Overall, the
company has accumulated debt of $54.6 million.
Observers agree with Be's assessment of the marketplace. Nearly
every software company is driving into the still-emerging Net
appliance market with products that will, effectively, perform
similar functions. Inertia favors the existing powers.
"The problem is that there is a lot of overlap between what they
are going to do and what Microsoft is doing," said Ashok Kumar, an
analyst with USBancorp Piper Jaffray, adding, "The [Internet
software vendor] economics are skewed toward the large players. "
One telling sign for the company's future lies in the financial
results for the next two quarters, Kumar said. Typically, companies
report strong growth right after the IPO. If Be's revenue stays
flat, "it's all downhill from there," he said.
Losing to Linux
The open-source upstart Linux has also become a thorn for Be,
analysts say.
"They are competing for the same space Linux is trying to play in,"
said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Giga Information Group, but "Linux
has substantially more interest than BeOS."
Enderle sees the rollout of Microworkz's iToaster as a good case in
point. The company initially said the $199 computer used a hybrid
of Linux and BeOS; it then backed off and said it used only BeOS
and proprietary Microworkz enhancements. But it was the Linux hype
that drove the news, Enderle said.
The biggest computer manufacturers have embraced Linux in varying
degrees. IBM, Compaq Computer, and Hewlett-Packard offer systems
guaranteed to work with Linux, and Dell pre-installs Red Hat Linux
on several models, including business computers.
While BeOS is a desktop operating system headed for gadgets and
Linux's success has been chiefly with servers, Linux is
nevertheless headed in that direction as well.
"The challenge for BeOS in small form-factors such as handhelds is
that Linux is already there in terms of acceptance, and vendors
appreciate the mind share that Linux lends itself to," said Stacey
Quandt, an analyst at Giga Information Group.
"Linux is going in so many directions: devices, handhelds, wearable
computers, server appliances. BeOS is in a niche market with
digital media," she said.
In the gadget market, Linux is appealing, because companies won't
have to pay royalties, Enderle said.
BeOS is also hampered by a lack of mainstream software--a problem
that afflicts Linux as well. "There's a shortage of Mac titles, but
it's harder to find BeOS titles," Enderle said.
Technically sound
BeOS is technically good, analysts said, though Quandt noted there
have been complaints that it takes about eight hours to load onto a
laptop, when loaded from a CD.
Enderle said BeOS is relatively crashproof, largely because it
isn't burdened the way Windows is with the requirement to support
older "legacy" software written for earlier versions of the
operating system.
Michael Tiemann, a founder of Cygnus Solutions, a company that has
developed programming tools for both Linux and BeOS, praised BeOS
for achieving a technologically elegant operating system. "It has
benefited from throwing away 20 years of operating systems
baggage," he said.
On the other hand, Linux has a huge developer base and the
excitement of open source programming, a feature absent from BeOS,
Tiemann said. "There's a lot more collaboration with the Linux
community," he said of his company's interaction with Linux gurus.
With BeOS, "we're not getting the kind of feedback, enhancements,
and community synergy that we get from Linux."
The open source development of Linux, though, can be intimidating
to companies who want the security of a product road map, a feature
BeOS and Windows offer.
Another difference between BeOS and Linux is that Linux is
available on many more chips than Be. (A computer's chip can't run
just any operating system. It first takes work to allow the chip
and OS to "talk" to each other.)
Be now works on PowerPC systems and Intel systems, but Linux,
because its source code is open, can be more easily translated to
other systems. It runs on everything from PalmPilots to machines
using chips from Intel, Sun, Silicon Graphics, HP, Compaq, IBM, and
others.
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