As a Mozilla developer who uses BeOS as much as possible, this is very disheartening to me. I have really wanted this port to come through because it is the biggest reason why I cannot use BeOS on a regular basis.

Several months ago, BeZilla ran and worked (barely). Now it seems that all of that effort put into it might just have been a waste if new people are not willing to help. Also, Be should once again put a man full-time on the project, as they did with Duncan Wilcox. However, he is now reassigned to another project.

If BeZilla is not completed, BeOS users will be missing out on more than just a great browser suite, they will also be missing out on cross-platform applications based on Mozilla technology. I can guarantee that BeOS users will notice these apps and the fact that they will not run on BeOS.

For example, I am writing a Jabber client that runs on Mozilla. It is an IM client that has the capability to talk with other Jabber, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN users, as well as RSS capability. More features are coming, and this is going to be a great IM client. It will only run on Mozilla, and unless someone writes a native BeOS client, then BeOS users simply will not have Jabber.

There are many other Mozilla-based applications in development, and I have seen some of them in action. Many of these coming applications could fills in holes in the BeOS application base, therefore filling more users’ needs and creating more user independence from other OSes.