The BeOS includes the ability to access your Microsoft Windows shared disks, using Microsoft Networks client software. An included operating systems boot manager allows you to choose which operating system to use when you start your hardware. The BeOS supports multibyte Unicode text throughout the system, permiting the use of multibyte languages, and serving as the basis for new localization capabilities. The encoding format used is UTF-8, the format also used by the Java language. Unicode fonts are supported throughout the system.
Various utilities provide useful tools for managing in a multibyte character environment.
BTextView, the basic text class within the BeOS, is also multibyte character-aware. This messaging provides the basis for system-wide scripting capabilities. Facilities for distributed messaging over the network also exist. Replicants are fully active and can be manipulated just as if they were part of the original application or document. MIME type identification Application messages and data are passed using the Internet standard MIME typing system.