Well it's not your grandma's BASIC! FutureBASIC II was already a neat, fast, compiled, structured BASIC that could stand up with pride in the face of C or Pascal, not only as far as speed, compactness but also as a great programming tool for getting the job done fast.
Even though FBII has always been 32 bit clean and runs on anything from a Mac 128 to them silver-grey G4s, folks have been crying out for a version that generated PPC, or "fat", code. [Personal note: I find FBII apps so blisteringly fast on G3s that I'd like to look for an option to slow the d*mn thing down! - :-j]
Other folks were crying out for a way to easily convert the header files that Apple sends out in order to give you access to new functionalities, new Managers and an easy way to get at shared libraries... [Note: This *was* a hassle; having hand converted headers from C to FBII, I'd have loved a way to just dump the headers in the bag and then code - :-j].
So, to cut a long story short, FB^3 is all that FBII was, but more so. And a bunch of other stuff too! See the quote from Andy at the end of the next question for more details.

The first version of FutureBASIC - this is the correct spelling BTW - was just that, no number or anything. Previously it had been known as ZBasic, but the name was changed when Staz Software took over the product.
Staz Software then launched FutureBasic II, or FBII, as it came to be known. The logical next version would have been FBIII, and in the FBII community it was referred to as this for quite a while. Staz and Andy Gariepy, the programmer behind FB, decided at some time to call it FutureBASIC^3 - pronounced "Cube"... Why? My guess is that it is so powerful and far ahead of FBII that a simple arithmetic increase wouldn't do it justice - hence FB to the power of three, or FB Cube.
As to the power of FB^3... a quote from Andy Gariepy in the beta testers mailing list - August 22nd 1999:
"I tried to keep FB^3 as compatible as possible with FBII while extending the language for PPC, Objects, Cpu's and OS'es... some of FBII syntax had to be changed to gain multiple cpu, objects and real record structures... The future of FutureBasic is no longer cpu or OS dependant... I hope to see FB^3 turn into the cross-platform development system of the future..."

Until the end of December 1999, FB^3 is available on a private subscription basis to members of the FBII mailing list for US $99. This subscription will expire at the end of the year 2000. It should include at least one update of the CD.
In January 2000, FB^3 should be made available to a larger public, still on a subscription basis. At the moment the subscription price is not known. Subscriptions for the US and Canada will be handled by Staz Software directly; in other places you can choose to buy from Staz, or from us. If you live in a European country for which there is a localised, then you should buy it from us.

Yes. Download the US demo version from Staz Software web site. French and Italian demo versions can be downloaded from here at the euro.futurebasic web site.

The manuals will be available on the CDs in electronic form. The'print on demand' versions are now available for sale at Staz Software (English version).

L. Frank Turovich's books "Learning FutureBASIC" volumes I & II are still available from his web site, or from Staz Software in paper, and from futurebasic.org in Acrobat/PDF format. But these are mainly concerned with FBII. Currently there are no books specifically concerned with FB^3 but different members of the FB community are discussing the question and if there developments, we'll let you know here.

The French version has been announced as being available at the same time as the first official release. The Japanese distributor should have a localised version ready too. Staz's objective is that one CD can be distributed world-wide with all the localised versions on it. This would also allow programmers to more easily create localised versions of their apps!
[UPDATE: Jan 15, 2000 - Italian and German localisations are underway and should see the light some time this year.]

Your FB^3 subscription will cover unlimited tech support while your subscription is valid. URLs and telephone numbers will be communicated when you subscribe.
Outside of official support, the FB mailing list at associate.com covers all versions of FutureBASIC, so if you aren't already subscribed... get in there. [Note: please read the charter at futurebasic.org before joining.]
In Europe we will be making available first- and second-level support for non english-speaking programmers:
- front line support will be through a native language mailing list, and this web site;
- second level support is available through to the FB distributors in Europe;
- if we get stuck on a problem then we'll take things to a higher level by reposting to the US FBII/FB^3 list, and contacting Staz Software directly and handling translation of your problem to and from your language.

No way. We call it FutureBasic-Europe because we are all based here, but once we get lists and web resources together in French, German and Italian, anyone speaking those languages, wherever they live in the world, is free to participate and consult the web pages.