Be has licensed the Opera Web browser and plans to include the software with both the BeOS and its upcoming Stinger 'BeOS Lite' for information appliances. BeOS already has a built-in browser, but it's one that hasn't fully been kept up-to-date with the latest developments in HTML. Opera brings to the alternative OS a modern Web browser, and one that's significantly smaller than its bloated rivals from Microsoft and AOL/Netscape. However, such a full-function browser is more important to Stinger, since good Web access is the very raison d'etre of the platform -- that and making Be the money it has largely failed to make by targetting the mainstream OS market. Stinger has already been selected as an optional OS for National Semiconductor's WebPad wireless Net access terminal reference design. Stinger will be officially announced sometime during Q1 2000. Opera for BeOS is already in beta, ahead of ports for Linux, the Mac OS, EPOC 32 and OS/2. The browser -- currently only available for the x86 version of BeOS -- is available as a 30-day trial from Opera's Web site. ®