Hitachi Ltd is to launch the first desktop computer with the BeOS operating system pre-installed next month. The multi-boot Flora Prius 330J PC, due out in Japan on December 5, includes a 14-inch thin film LCD screens and will has both the Japanese version of BeOS R4 and Microsoft Windows 98 installed. It uses a 400MHz Pentium II processor. A package of word processing, presentation and other applications software for BeOS is included. There are three models, including a high-end system with video capture card, due out on December 26. Be Inc, founded by one of Apple Computer Inc’s early luminaries Jean-Louis Gassee, originally designed its so-called media operating system for Apple hardware, but earlier this year released the first version for Intel processors. Menlo Park, California-based Be has said that it expects BeOS to be offered alongside Windows for media applications, and doesn’t expect to replace it.
