Because we know that our success grows directly from your success, we want to support your efforts to develop for BeOS and BeIA, and we're constantly thinking about and working toward ways to improve this support. The past few months have given us all an opportunity to think hard about what we're doing and how to serve the customers we want to attract, while the computing market continues to evolve around us.

To keep pace with the exciting changes in our business and increase the number and kind of our development partners, Be has made some changes in our developer services that should make it easier for all Be developers to market successful products. We'd like to tell you about our new support options (which include better access to materials at no charge) and help you understand how you may be able to capitalize on changes in the computing market and develop for either BeOS or BeIA, or both, in the new millennium.

Just in the past few months Be has announced strategic Internet appliance relationships with partners such as Compaq, National Semiconductor, Intel Corporation, First International Computer, Inc. and Proxim, Inc. With our partner list growing this fast, you can imagine the higher level of support that Be must provide. Added to the exciting Internet appliance challenge is the popularity of BeOS 5 Personal Edition (over 870,000 downloads as of last week) and a large number of new BeOS developers downloading the tools and becoming involved. Thanks to all our developers for being so patient during this exciting growth.

We are happy to announce that on Wednesday, April 26, Be Inc. is launching an improved Developer Services section of our web site: http://www.be.com/developers/. This announcement describes the new structure of Developer Services, changes to the costs of services, and what resources are available to all developers at various levels. These changes were made in order to better serve the Be Developer Community. Be Inc. and the Be User and Developer Communities value your involvement now more than ever.

Developer Services is dedicated to fulfilling the needs of developers who build BeIA information and entertainment appliances as well as those who develop commercially viable BeOS software. Three levels of participation are available:

• a Free Developer Resources level

• a BeIA Evaluation Service level, and

• a Partner Program level

Via the Developer Area of our web site, BeIA and BeOS developers will have access to excellent online resources at no charge. These resources include Be Developer Community discussion lists; BMessage, a Newsletter for Be developers; BeOS 5 Personal Edition; BeOS development tools; BeOS sample code written by Be engineers; and Bug Report and Feature Request submission form access. Our hope and plan is that it will be possible for a wide range of BeOS developers to create quality BeOS desktop software using these free online resources. No program membership is required, so there is no hassle of remembering an ID and password. However, we do encourage all BeOS developers to complete an online survey so we can track who is developing BeOS software products. BeIA projects all require BeIA Developer Kits, and will almost certainly require Developer Technical Support and other benefits available only to Partner Program Members, so all BeIA developers are encouraged to try the BeIA Evaluation Service or apply for the Partner Program.

Developers who would like to investigate BeIA software before applying for the Be Partner Program are encouraged to purchase the BeIA Evaluation Service for $95. This service includes one downloadable version of BeIA Eval and all updates for one year. This BeIA software can be easily installed in Windows and includes cached web pages that illustrate how an Information Appliance running BeIA might work. Targeted collateral and documentation are included which provide pertinent information for potential BeIA developers. BeIA Evaluation Service customers are welcome to ask our technical support staff about installation issues, but no other questions will be answered until the company is accepted into the Partner Program.

Companies who have funding to develop a BeIA or BeOS project are encouraged to apply for Be's Partner Program so they can take advantage of additional services. Be will enthusiastically review applications for the Partner Program with an eye toward providing the best service to partners that need it to complete viable, trend-setting products. The person who completes Be's Qualification Form becomes the main contact for the company accepted into the Partner Program. Each main contact will have to sign a Partner Program Agreement as part of the final acceptance procedure. The main contact may distribute their company's membership ID and password to 5 employees in their company so they can take advantage of the services provided in the Partner Area of our web site. The main contact will be informed when the annual review process begins for their membership.

Partners receive a high level of support from Be. As part of their membership benefits, partners have access to targeted BeIA Developer Kits with appropriate Be software, build tools, sample code, and collateral. Bugs and feature requests submitted by Partners receive priority attention. In addition, Partners may purchase BeIA Development Machines that come with development tools pre-installed. Also, partners may purchase additional services at a support rate (currently $200 per hour). For instance, Partners can: have Be test the compatibility of a product with our software; get Developer Technical Support via an online query form; ask an engineer for one-on-one help; receive UI design consultation; have a specific driver or a custom application developed; and more.

So—this week's fashion is structure, as in structural remedies. Breaking Microsoft in two: OS; and all the rest—applications, contents, tools, web services, media, hardware. Structural remedies as opposed to conduct remedies; that is, imposing new rules of behavior. The problem with conduct remedies is that they amount to putting a cop behind each Microsoft employee. So there's really no contest as to the choice of remedies: structure wins every time.

Let me quickly add that I'm aware conduct remedies are also being considered, such as shedding light on Windows pricing. A good idea, and the risk of being in contempt of a settlement would act as a credible deterrent. But more needs to be done, or clarified. Windows licensing contains abusive language; that is, abusive in that it conserves or extends the MS monopoly. Forcing licensees, OEMs such as Compaq or Dell, to use the Windows boot manager, itself only licensed to load MS operating systems, effectively prevents factory installation of dual- or triple-boot systems. As a result, you can buy a system with Windows or a system with an alternative OS, but not a system with both.

Leaving aside our own BeOS for a (brief) moment, why can't you find a Windows-Linux dual-boot system on the shelves of the grandees of our industry? Because of Microsoft's legal tricks. Microsoft can say what they want regarding their love of the freedom to innovate, but in the dark recesses of their confidential licensing agreements lies clear evidence that they want to protect their monopoly. It doesn't require a cop behind every employee to breach this monopoly; it requires only provisions and sanctions in a settlement.

Returning to structural remedies, separating the OS from applications such as Office sounds good. It parallels decisions such as the one (Carterfone if memory serves) that separates the telephone set from the telephone line. The telephone network is the platform, the set is the application. The problem with such a neat line of demarcation is that software is just that—soft. How do you legally draw a line between the OS and an application? It's not just a question of whether or not the browser is in the OS or in the application category. Where do you put Wordpad? Can you or can't you provide a text editor with the OS? It's really needed to edit configuration files and the like, or just to make a little note for oneself, Your Honor. And how do you limit the feature set for this text editor?

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. You could end up with one company feverishly adding—sorry, integrating—features into its OS, and another looking at more than one platform for its applications, as long as the DOJ looks into the unfair OS licensing agreement tricks played by the "other" company. The Office platform could even buy Red Hat, or Compaq—that would be fun.

Of course, there's an important topic we haven't discussed yet. Will Microsoft, with its browser, manage to control the **ML dialect, the media standards used on the Web? If the answer is yes, they will have succeeded in extending their monopoly, broken up or not. I'm puzzled that we don't hear much about this in public discussions.

One caveat, and one conclusion. As before, what we hear might bear little relationship to what's actually taking place between teams of lawyers and the judge. In addition, we haven't heard from the attorneys general for the states that are also suing Microsoft. This antitrust suit has provided more than a few surprises in the past 18 months, and the appeals process might keep it alive for two years or more. In conclusion then, while there isn't a beautifully clear solution, an uncomplicated combination of enforceable conduct remedies and breaking up the behemoth might restore competition and foster innovation in our industry. It might even benefit Microsoft shareholders if the history of Standard Oil and AT&T repeats itself.