I received a mail from Koki (he's been a very active and valuable member of the community) with some good news. The BeOS port of Abiword is (for now) saved. And why do i say for now? Keep reading:

"We have found a developer to pick up development of AbiWord for BeOS. One of our
JPBE.net members, Jun Suzuki (a.k.a. Tarukusu), has committed to try to bring the 1.0 version of AbiWord up to speed for the BeOS platform. So, at least until then, the BeOS code will still be alive. Jun is already in direct contact with Dom Lachowicz of the AbiSuite project.

We will still need someone to take over once Jun is done with version 1.0, so you BeOS developers out there, take note. AbiWord is a nice piece of open source software, and we do not want to let the BeOS port die. With Jun's help we have certainly gained some time, but let's not sit on our laurels. BeOS needs this."

So there you have it, good news indeed. But like Koki says, someone will have to take over once his work is done. This is temporary, but which can prove to be very important to keep Abiword for BeOS.

I'd like to thank Koki for putting the word out there to the Japanese community and of course, Jun Suzuki for taking on this task of keeping the BeOS port alive. Great job guys!