Gobe Software, Inc was a software company that published an integrated desktop software suite for BeOS

BeOS

BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing...

. In later years, it was the publisher of BeOS itself.

Gobe was founded in 1997 by members of the ClarisWorks development team and some of the authors of the original Styleware application for the Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

. After leaving StyleWare and creating the product later known as ClarisWorks and AppleWorks

AppleWorks

AppleWorks refers to two different office suite products, both of which are now discontinued. Originally, AppleWorks was an integrated software package for the Apple II platform, released in 1984 by Apple Computer...

, Bob Hearn, Scott Holdaway joined Tom Hoke, Scott Lindsey, Bruce Q. Hammond, and Carl Grice who also worked at Apple Computer

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

's Claris

Claris

Claris was a computer software developer formed as a spin-off from Apple Computer in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several programs that were owned by Apple, notably MacWrite and MacPaint, in order to separate Apple's application software activities from its hardware and...

 division and formed Gobe Software, Inc with the notion to create a next-generation integrated office suite similar to ClarisWorks, but for the BeOS platform.

Gobe Productive v1.0 for BeOS was released in August 1998 and v2.0 in August 1999.

The resulting product, Gobe Productive, was by far the most polished of the word processors, spreadsheet and vector graphics applications for BeOS, but as an integrated package a la ClarisWorks and Microsoft Works

Microsoft Works

Microsoft Works is an integrated package software that is produced by Microsoft. Works is smaller, less expensive, and has fewer features than Microsoft Office or other major office suites. Its core functionality includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system...

.

When Be Inc.

Be Inc.

Be Incorporated was an American computer company founded in 1990, best known for the Be Operating System and BeBox personal computer. Be was founded by former Apple Computer executive Jean-Louis Gassée with capital from Seymour Cray....

 outsourced publication of BeOS in 2000 Gobe became the publisher of BeOS in North America, Australia, and sections of Asia. Only weeks after signing up other publishers around the globe, Be, Inc halted development for the BeOS platform and publicly announced that all of its corporate focus would be on "Internet Appliances" and made public announcements that hampered forward momentum of the BeOS platform. In addition, the publishers in general and Gobe in particular did not have source code access to the BeOS and were not able to continue its development or add drivers that the platform needed to be a viable alternative to Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 or Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

. Gobe also published Hicom Entertainment/Next Generation Entertainments "Corum III" role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

for BeOS during this period.

The failure of Be, Inc and BeOS meant ports had to be undertaken, and Windows and Linux variants were developed. Although the company shipped a Windows version of its software in December 2001, it was unable to obtain sufficient operating capital after the 2000 stock market crash and suspended operations 2002. In 2008 Gobe management began to work with distribution and development teams in Greater Asia and has plans to ship a new version of the product for the India market early 2010.

Other Gobe employees

• Dave Johnson
• Ben Chang
• Joël Spaltenstein
• Kurt von Finck
• Daniel Maia Alves
• Cheyenne Tuller
• Tomy Hudson

External links

• Gobe Corp.
• A Brief History Of ClarisWorks - Bob Hearn
• Be, Inc. article (archived)
• Ars Technica Review of Gobe Productive 3.03