Steem, Bitshares and EOS were all started by the same developer.
Outside of that, there is no connection between the blockchain although there is word that BTS and EOS might join forces in some form.
As I understand, steem is now totally separate especially since @dan moved on to work on other projects.
I saw an interview with @dan explaining there were not separated, that Steem need growth in User Expirience terms and design concepts, which he is no longer really needed, so he went to create EOS in good terms to create a Crypto-App that can link any programmer (many code sources) to the crypto-currency world...
Thanks for this post, @taskmaster4450, im really going into this new release... just for curiosity, are you getting into the ICO?
Cheers!