beos

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
BeOS

   <operating system> The {operating system} originally designed
   to run on the {BeBox} {microcomputer}.  BeOS is good at both
   {multitasking} and {real-time} operation.  It has a {bash}
   command shell, with ports of many {GNU} programs by Be, Inc.
   It has a {GUI} front end (not {X}).  A {C++} {compiler} is
   supplied with the machine, and there are rumours of other
   languages being ported in the future.

   BeOs eventually became used on the {x86} and
   standard {PPC}.

   Be, Inc. went bankrupt in 1999, after releasing the last
   upgrade of BeOS (R5.0.3), and was sold to {Palm}.

   Several groups are currently (2003) attempting to create an R6
   version of the OS.  The most likely to succeed are {Yellowtab}
   and {OpenBeOS}, which is likely to be renamed.

   (2003-05-30)