Haiku OS, the open-source homage to the classic BeOS, has released its sixth beta, arriving a week after the project's 25th anniversary. The update brings a significantly upgraded built-in browser, a wider choice of alternative browsers, and a working hardware-accelerated hypervisor, making the niche operating system a more practical option for everyday use, particularly on older or low-spec hardware.

The bundled WebPositive browser now uses the WebKit engine, allowing it to properly run demanding web apps like Gmail, while users can also install a fully Mozilla-branded Firefox (already updated to version 155), along with Waterfox, LibreWolf, Floorp and email clients such as IceDove and Claws. Beta 6 also adds hardware-accelerated virtual machines via a ported NVMM hypervisor, letting QEMU use native Intel and AMD virtualisation, though this and Firefox are limited to the 64-bit x86 build. The OS remains notably lightweight, running well on decade-old ThinkPads with just 8GB of RAM, and is also available for 32-bit x86, RISC-V, Arm64 and an experimental PowerPC port; the project has taken a firm stance against AI-generated code contributions, prompting one Arm64 developer to abandon work upstream.