Long time WinInfo subscribers know that I have soft spot in my heart for Be and their beautiful Be OS. Currently, the Be OS only runs on proprietary machines built by Be and the number of users can be counted in the low thousands. No matter. Like Linux, the Be OS has a grass- roots following on the Internet and Apple is said to be considering the Be OS as a replacement for "Copland", the recently cancelled and much- delayed follow-up to Mac OS 7.x. Recent developments, unfortunately, suggest that Apple is going to develop Mac OS 8.0--or whatever they're going to call it--in-house, which would leave Be in the dark. Another rumor, just hatched today, has Apple buying NeXTStep(!). Well, some good news just arrived for little Be. CPU giant Intel, who controls some 90% of the PC hardware market, has asked Be to port the Be OS to the Intel x86 architecture. Currently, the Be OS only runs on the PowerPC, the quickly dying RISC chip family that the Apple Mac uses. As everyone but Apple abandons the PowerPC, and Apple abandons Be, the Intel CPUs may be the way to go. Ironically, it might be Be, not Apple, that has the last laugh. Stay tuned. This one will get interesting