German BeOS developer SheepShaver is porting its MacOS runtime environment, also called SheepShaver, to Linux. The software, which currently only runs on PowerPC-based BeOS installations, creates a MacOS virtual machine in which users can work with any out-of-the-box Mac applications. It's not yet clear whether the Linux version of SheepShaver will operate solely on MacOS and PowerPC-based hardware, or be offered across multiple platforms. The news comes as industry heavyweights, including Oracle, Intel, IBM and Netscape, have been loudly trumpetting their support for Linux as an enterprise OS. However, as a mainstream OS, it isn't noted for the wide range of off-the-shelf applications that it provides. A MacOS virtual machine would go some way to changing that. ®