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Really? The two nicest desktop operating systems I've used are MacOS X and BeOS. OS X is based on the mach microkernel, while BeOS has its own microkernel. And before you say BeOS is dead, take a look at the new version (still in private beta).

Microkernels are still very much alive. They don't give quite the performance of macrokernels, but they have a number of advantages (like not needing a reboot to replace large portions of the kernel, and drivers not being able to crash the kernel). With current system speeds, the flexibility of a microkernel is well worth the speed trade-off, on the desktop at least. On a server / workstation I would probably still choose a macrokernel.

Is BeOS still under the wings of Palm? Why don't they use the thing, or simply open the source?

When Palm bought Be, Inc. they promised there would never again be a BeOS release. They refused to license the IP or allow anyone to work on it ("Omigod, they killed the BeOS!" "You bastards!"). :P

However, a German company (yellowTab) which had wisely started negotiating to work on BeOS long before the sale (during the period where Be was "refocusing on Internet Appliances") and somehow had the rights to work on a BeOS, or something. Their version of events is here.

For some reason, none of the Be sites is linking to them, and googel does not like them either. I had to find the old slashdot article to find them at all. They also seem to be calling the OS Zeta instead of BeOS. Perhaps the people at Palm have the reverse midas touch w/r/t brands and anyone who has a good brand but associates with them loses it altogether. By the way can you tell I hate the new name and wonder why in the hell they would change the most recognized name in PDAs? Perhaps this is bad karma for trying to crush BeOS on purpose.

Still if you want you can buy zeta from yellowTab and it does come with lots of software, apparently...

Is BeOS still under the wings of Palm? Why don't they use the thing, or simply open the source?

When Palm bought Be, Inc. they promised there would never again be a BeOS release. They refused to license the IP or allow anyone to work on it ("Omigod, they killed the BeOS!" "You bastards!"). :P

However, a German company (yellowTab) which had wisely started negotiating to work on BeOS long before the sale (during the period where Be was "refocusing on Internet Appliances") and somehow had the rights to work on a BeOS, or something. Their version of events is here.

For some reason, none of the Be sites is linking to them, and googel does not like them either. I had to find the old slashdot article to find them at all. They also seem to be calling the OS Zeta instead of BeOS. Perhaps the people at Palm have the reverse midas touch w/r/t brands and anyone who has a good brand but associates with them loses it altogether. By the way can you tell I hate the new name and wonder why in the hell they would change the most recognized name in PDAs? Perhaps this is bad karma for trying to crush BeOS on purpose.

Still if you want you can buy zeta from yellowTab and it does come with lots of software, apparently...

On a related note, does anyone know what happened to YellowTab Zeta?

OSnews did a Review recently, and is generally a good place to get information on Zeta.

On a related note, does anyone know what happened to YellowTab Zeta?

OSnews did a Review recently, and is generally a good place to get information on Zeta.

Be folded, and I guess sold its IP to Palm, but sold the source code to the yellowTAB guys, which was absolutely the right move. Palm is sitting on their hands (pardon the pun) about using any Be IP, but the yTAB guys are hard at work on the next version of BeOS, now called Zeta. Check it out.

Zeta/aka BeOS (not just another re-package, *new*) YellowTAB but slashdot won't let me post about this wonderus OS on the frontpage (or any where), such good guys ..

Windows? Even 2000 and XP aren't nearly as stable as Unix and are completely non-portable.

Completely non-portable? Do you live behind a rock? The NT line of Windows IS portable. Ports to other architectures may not be profitable, but are possible.
WinNT4 was available for x86, PPC and Alpha.
There's a port of Win2k for Alpha, that was never for sell to the public, but it does exist.
There's Windows for the Itanium called Win 64Bit LE. It's something in-between Win2k Server and Win 2003 Server.
Win 2003 Server is also available for Itanium (you can download the RCs from microsoft.com for free).

The "Developer Edition" and "Max Edition" are hacked together from the Personal Edition that Be, Inc. released. They are in violation of the EULA that comes with the Personal Edition, but, since they are not making the people distributing them any money, i imagine Palm, or the remnants of Be, Inc. couldn't care less.
For open-source replacements of BeOS check out the following:
OpenBeOS
BlueEyed OS
also look at the following:
beunited
yellowTab's Zeta

The guy writing the review is a horrible representative of BeOS users, i think. it's my main OS at home, and I have had little teouble with it, ever (the only time i went into Kernel Debug land was when I managed to crash snes9x with a corrupted ROM).

OpenBeos is creating a new BeOS from scratch that will be binary compatible with the original BeOS (at first anyway and plan on adding new features that will probably break this later). So far they are coming along at a good pace. They have already created beta's for OpenBFS, Open Media Kits, and their Print Server.

They are using the NewOS Kernel

Blue Eyed OS is an atempt to bring the Be API and interface to the Linux kernel.

YellowTab has some screenshots here: YellowTab Screenshots

OpenBeos is creating a new BeOS from scratch that will be binary compatible with the original BeOS (at first anyway and plan on adding new features that will probably break this later). So far they are coming along at a good pace. They have already created beta's for OpenBFS, Open Media Kits, and their Print Server.

They are using the NewOS Kernel

Blue Eyed OS is an atempt to bring the Be API and interface to the Linux kernel.

YellowTab has some screenshots here: YellowTab Screenshots