[username223]

It had Bash and partial POSIX compatibility, but you're right -- it wasn't Unix.

BeOS was awesome as an OS built ground-up for affordable GUI-capable personal computers. It was incredibly responsive and capable at a time when the PC alternatives were Mac OS (crashy), Windows 95 (lots of legacy baggage), and X11R5 on Linux (a clone of a knockoff of a mainframe OS).

IIRC the PARC systems cost $20k or more in today's dollars, and were strongly tied to a single programming language. (I've read about them, but haven't used one.)