Innovation in the BeOS comes as much from developers building on top of the BeOS foundation as through Be's own efforts. From the user's perspective, innovation by developers is as important, or even more important, than the raw capabilities inherent in the BeOS. It's the developer who takes these raw capabilities and harnesses them into the next great, revolutionary application.



How do we recognize the developer who takes a risk? Who steps out of current paradigms to take an entirely different approach to a problem? Who takes on the task of leveraging the underlying hardware and OS to deliver new capabilities to the end user?



How do we acknowledge the commitment of a team which, ignoring reality and invocations of "it can't be done" or "it shouldn't be done", delivers a new piece of the computing puzzle? Or the lone programmer who looks at a new OS platform and develops a simple piece of software that is profound in that it fills a basic need every user has?



How do we recognize the best contributions of the thousands of engineers working with the BeOS in commercial environments, as well as the individuals creating the foundation of shareware and freeware that makes an OS come alive? From professionals to college hackers to high school students.

How can we place the spotlight on the real heroes of the revolution, the developers...

The BeOS Masters Awards is an on-going program designed to recognize and promote the developers behind the best products developed for the Be Operating System. Be plans to feature Masters award winners in our press releases, expos, events, and developer conferences. And of course, recognition by your peers - the thousands of other developers working with the BeOS.

We're not stopping with just recognition and fame, though. How best to recognize the Masters, the best of software development, but with better tools to do, yes, even more software development! We're not talking just any tools, either, but the new, award-winning computers from UMAX, including the new, multiprocessor, dual-604 S900.

The Masters is also about recognizing all of the work done on the BeOS. All products submitted and accepted for the program will be featured on the Be web site, including web pages of information, FTP downloads, and links to your web site as appropriate.

The second BeOS Masters Awards will take place in conjunction with the Be Developers' Conference, August 4-5th, in Boston, MA. At least ten Masters Awards, including UMAX S900s, will be awarded at the August Masters. In addition, development software and "GeekWare" from Metrowerks, Jaz drives, and more will be awarded to the winners and the runners-up selected by the Masters awards panel. All to give some of the best BeOS developers even better tools to create even better products.

Products for the August Masters' session must be BeOS Preview Release (or Advanced Access Preview Release) compatible. There will be Masters Awards given for the best in commercial software, as well as freeware and shareware (note that there will likely be multiple winners in each group, depending on the decisions of the awards panel). A new category has been added so we can recognize compelling technologies that aren't yet available to the public. Finally, in keeping with our commitment to the next generation of programmers, there will be Master Awards for the best in university and high-school level projects.

After August, the next Masters will take place at the January Be Developers' Conference, just after MacWorld San Francisco.

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Further Masters Information

• Masters Awards: Rules and Guidelines
• Masters Awards: How to Enter
• May Masters Award Winners

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