I was working at Pixar at the time and a couple of us went out to lunch when the news broke to figure out What It All Meant. We passed Steve's office on the way out and one of our party, who had worked with him since early Apple days, congratulated him. The big question was whether they would keep the Unix plumbing visible and useful, or would it be buried under some API layer of no use to us Unix graybeards. Fortunately, the plumbing wasn't hidden in the walls.
In the early 90s, I remember reading in NeXTWorld Magazine many articles about the speed of development under NeXTStep. Ten times faster, according to John Carmack, who was creating Doom. Every developer agreed. Each issue showcased apps with surprising and elegant capabilities, really new features available nowhere else. The proposition was that NeXT Cubes were really worth the price, that they enabled magical solutions, and that there was still time left to join the other pioneers. Alas, I could only afford the magazine subscription. (In 2016 dollars, NeXT Cubes cost from $11,000 to $17,000.) When the Apple-NeXT merger was announced, people who had been following the NeXT saga, who had been aware of the benefits of NeXTStep and OpenStep, could easily imagine something great happening, and were especially glad when things worked out well in the end. (Here’s an archive of old NeXTWorld magazines. The PDF scans are actually easier on the eyes. <a href="http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Articles/NeXTWORLD/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Articles/NeXTWORLD/</a>)
"I’d argue that this is probably the single most important tech acquisition of all time."<p>However, it was not Apple's first choice. They first attempted to acquire Be Inc. (BeOS) but Jean-Louis Gassée held out for $275 million and lost the deal in a surprise move when Apple, instead, bought NeXT.
I was applying for jobs back in 1997, and during that time they had a huge career fair called the Brass Ring fair. Employers from around Silicon Valley would have booths and hire people on the spot. I distinctly remember Apple's booth being completely barren, they were practically dead to most engineers. How the tables have turned since then. The big question is, Apple's path appears to be following the path after Steve Jobs left the first time, with the muddied product picture, no innovation, etc. I hope history doesn't repeat itself twice.
It would be great if someone wrote an article about the alternate histories where Apple chose other strategies. For instance, what an Apple-Be merge would have resulted in, what kind of products and tech. And how NeXT would have lasted without Apple.
I copy from a comment of mine from last week. In case you wanna procrastinate on a fascinating story about how Apple transitioned to NextStep's stack without completely annihilating their already weak developer base, here's a few links:<p>You get a corporate drama, a human drama and a tech drama all wrapped up in one series of presentations:<p>Jobs' return (as a consultant) 1997, promoting technologies from NeXT. Watch basically everyone asleep at the wheel except Jobs, the man with a plan.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QrX047-v-s" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QrX047-v-s</a><p>WWDC Q&A - 'the art of saying no'<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iACK-LNnzM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iACK-LNnzM</a><p>Jobs' hostile takeover in July by doing a (probably illegal?) stock dump<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Amelio#Apple_Computer" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Amelio#Apple_Computer</a><p>Announcing a Deal with Microsoft as de facto CEO in August, booed by the crowd<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOs6hnTI4lw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOs6hnTI4lw</a><p>Internal meeting in September 1997<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMQhOm-Dqo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMQhOm-Dqo</a><p>iMac introduction 1998 - Apple is back<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwmF0OJ0vg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwmF0OJ0vg</a><p>Macworld 1998 - Apple is essentially saved as a company<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdYiqVzPjAc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdYiqVzPjAc</a><p>OSX Strategy reveal<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dWDg6f9eo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dWDg6f9eo</a><p>1999 - OSX Server launch<p><a href="https://youtu.be/NuCYHrSig94?t=48m40s" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/NuCYHrSig94?t=48m40s</a><p>2000 - OSX launch<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII</a>
"I’d argue that this is probably the single most important tech acquisition of all time."<p>Microsoft buys the pieces that eventually become MS-DOS?<p>Going back further, pharma companies buying tech that they turned into mass produced antibiotics and gave us the sulfa drug revolution?<p>Apple buying NeXT hardly compares to the acquisition of steel smelting.
> What came out of this deal not only saved Apple and the Mac,<p>Er... interesting revisionism, here. That acquisition didn't do much to save Apple from the financial hole it had dug for itself.<p>Bill Gates is really what saved Apple back then.
>> What came out of this deal not only saved Apple and the Mac, but made the iPhone, iPad and more possible as well.<p>What prevents Apple from making the iPhone and iPad? They could have bought Palm, QNX, did something based on Linux...<p>What was the key? BSD? Objective-C? I don't see those being that important.<p>The one thing NeXT did enable them to do was the PowerPC to Intel switch.
If only I had had money to buy Apple stock in 98 lol, be well retired now, instead of going to graduate school taking out a loan to buy tons of Apple stock would have been a far smarter move
and this guy missed out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Gass%C3%A9e#1991.E2.80.932002:_Be_Incorporated" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Gass%C3%A9e#1991.E2...</a>
I read that the NeXT, let's call it, "adventure", is the reason Apple went with a Linux distribution as basis for their new OS and thus, we're all using OSX now?