This document answers questions regarding Be the company, employment at Be,
our programs and philosophies, corporate and technical partnerships, etc.
General
Q: Is Be, Inc. a
publicly traded company? How can I buy stock in Be, Inc.?
A: At this time, Be is a privately held corporation
and stock in Be, Incorporated is not publicly available, nor is financial
information publicly available.
Of course, we're ambitious! When and if Be goes public, you can be sure we
will announce the fact on our Web site, in very large letters! Keep checking
back from time to time.
You can find the information we make public about our business and future
directions on our Web site:
http://www.be.com/
You might also find the Hoovers
profile of Be, Inc. interesting.
Q: Is Be a profitable
company?
A: At this time, Be is a privately held corporation.
We are financed by a number of the largest venture capital firms in the Silicon
Valley, including August Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Alta Partners, and
others. As a private company, financial information regarding Be, Inc. is not
publicly available.
You can find the information that is public about our business and
future directions on our Web site:
http://www.be.com/
You might also find the Hoovers
profile of Be, Inc. interesting.
Q: Who has invested
money in Be?
A: Certain regulations and good business practices
limit the amount of financial information it is possible to make public. We can
say that we have received investments from some of the largest and most
prestigious (and, we think, the smartest!) venture capital firms in the world,
including Alta Partners, August Fund, and New Enterprise Associates.
Those interested in more details might find the following press release
interesting:
http://www.be.com/aboutbe/pressreleases/96-04-15_Financing.html
Q: I want to work for
Be! How can I get a job there?
A: Be is always interested in talking to quality
people, and we currently have a number of openings in Engineering, Marketing,
and elsewhere. Your best bet for finding a job at Be is to check out the
Employment Opportunities page on our Web site:
http://www.be.com/aboutbe/jobs/index.html
To apply, please send your plain text (ASCII) resume included in the
body of your e-mail to jobs@be.com
(enclosed documents will not be considered), or fax your resume to us at
(650) 462-4137.
Our needs are changing constantly. We'll be sure to contact you if your
qualifications match any of our openings.
Q: I'm a student at XYZ
college. Does Be offer summer or other internships?
A: Be does indeed have student internships. Many of us
had student internships and are interested in hiring students whenever
possible.
We always list these positions along with our full-time opportunities, on the
Employment Opportunities page on our Web site:
http://www.be.com/aboutbe/jobs/index.html
Be typically has two or three students working in the Menlo Park offices at
any given time, so the opportunities are not limited to just the summer. Be sure
to check the Web site on a regular basis!
To apply, please send your plain text (ASCII) resume included in the
body of your e-mail to jobs@be.com
(enclosed documents will not be considered), or fax your resume to us at
(650) 462-4137.
We'll be sure to contact you if your qualifications match any of our student
intern needs.
Q: How can I buy one of
those cool Be t-shirts?
A: Thanks, we think our t-shirts are cool, too! If
you'd like to see what they look like, we have them in black and in white.
You can order a Be t-shirt on-line from the Be web site:
http://www.be.com/purchase/ordering/beos_order_form.html
Or you can place an order over the phone at (800) 491-2818 from 9am to 5pm
PST.
Q: Do you have
educational pricing discounts?
A: At the present time, no. There are a number of ways
to get the BeOS for little or no cost, so it's not clear how much difference a
discount program would make.
Q: What hardware and
software is your web site running on?
A: We're running Free BSD and the Apache web server software on a generic Intel
box (a Pentium @ 133 MHz). We have a T1 line coming into the building, so
generally our server and the pipe that serves it are quite fast.
Q: Why is my connection
to the Be web (or ftp) site so slow?
A: We run the Be web and ftp sites on a fairly fast
system, and we have a T1 line coming into our offices. In general, the
performance of both sites is quite good.
If you are experiencing slow performance connecting to the Be web or ftp
site, it's probably just bad Internet weather, and will go away in a couple
hours. This is particularly true if the path between you and us goes through
Sprint or MCI.
Sending a traceroute to webmaster@be.com will let us check into it
with our ISP, though, so feel free to do so. We do work hard to make the Be site
snappy, so let us know when things are not good.
Partners
Q: Who has licensed the
BeOS?
A: At this time, we have licensing agreements to ship
the BeOS with machines from UMAX, PowerTools, Computer Warehouse, Motorola, and
Power Computing.
We are talking with all of the Macintosh compatible vendors about licensing
the BeOS because our goal is to let as many people as possible experience the
BeOS first hand. As it becomes possible to announce such deals, you can be sure
we will put the details on the Be web site.
Q: I bought a Power
Computing machine some time after Be and Power Computing
announced their licensing arrangement (on November 26, 1996). Will I get the
BeOS? How will I get it?
A: On September 2nd, Apple announced the purchase of
Power Computing's
Macintosh business. Despite this event, Be will honor the commitment made
by Power Computing to provide a free copy of the BeOS to
customers who purchased a Power Computing system after November 26, 1996.
To get the BeOS sent to you free of charge, you need to fill out the form
elsewhere on our web site:
http://www.be.com/users/power_computing.html
Q: How will Motorola be
bundling the BeOS?
A: Motorola has not yet announced the details of how
they will include the BeOS for their StarMax computers. When such details become
publicly available, they will definitely be posted to the Be web site, so keep
your eye out.
Q: Is Be licensing the
BeOS to PIOS?
A: PIOS has stated that they intend to include the
BeOS with their systems. When the full details become publicly available, they
will definitely be posted to the Be web site, so keep your eye out.
You can also visit the PIOS web site for more information about their product
line, including the systems which will run the BeOS:
http://www.pios.de/uk/software.html
Q: What is the deal
between Be and Netscape?
A: Be and Netscape announced they are working together
to bring Netscape's FastTrack server and LiveWire products to the BeOS.
It was also stated that Netscape will take advantage of Be's BeOS bundling
option. This enables developers to offer PowerPC customers a turn-key solution
of an important application and the BeOS Preview Release.
You can read the complete details in the Be/Netscape press
release.
Q: What is the deal
between Be and NeoLogic?
A: Be and NeoLogic announced that the BeOS version of
their NeoAccess(r) 5.0 object database engine runs 3 to 5 times faster than the
Mac OS version running on similar Power Macintosh hardware.
This speed boost is due to the underlying threading, high-performance file
system, and overall high performance of the BeOS. This news is encouraging both
for developers, such as Netscape, who use the NeoAccess object database engine
in some of their products, and for customers who use software based on the
NeoAccess engine.
You can read the complete details in the Be/NeoLogic press
release.
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