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NeXT 🧊Thursday, October 10th, 2024

NeXT Computers was founded in 1985 by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple. The company aimed to develop high-end workstations for higher education and business markets. Jobs envisioned NeXT as a company that would revolutionize computing with cutting-edge hardware and software innovations.

### Origin Story:

- **The Beginning**: After leaving Apple, Steve Jobs started NeXT with the goal of building powerful computers designed specifically for universities and research institutions. Jobs recruited several top engineers, many from Apple, to help build a system that was advanced both in hardware and software. The first product, the NeXT Computer, launched in 1988, followed by the NeXTcube in 1990.

- **The Vision**: Jobs wanted NeXT computers to be groundbreaking, featuring a sleek black magnesium design and a strong focus on higher education markets. The NeXT hardware had innovations like the **magneto-optical disk** and **DSP (Digital Signal Processor)**, which were ahead of their time.

However, despite its technical advancements, the hardware was too expensive for its target market, and NeXT pivoted from making hardware to focusing more on software.

### Contributions to Modern Computing:

1. **NeXTSTEP Operating System**:

The most important contribution from NeXT was the **NeXTSTEP** operating system, which was a Unix-based system with a user-friendly graphical interface. This OS featured object-oriented programming and was highly influential in the development of future operating systems.

Key components of NeXTSTEP included:

- **Objective-C**: The programming language used for developing NeXTSTEP applications. Objective-C became a key part of Apple's software stack after Jobs returned to Apple and influenced modern software development.

- **Display PostScript**: NeXTSTEP was one of the first systems to use a display engine based on PostScript, which greatly influenced modern graphical user interfaces.

- **Mach Kernel**: NeXTSTEP used the Mach kernel, a microkernel, as its core. The kernel design played a significant role in influencing future operating systems.

2. **Influence on macOS and iOS**: When Apple acquired NeXT in 1996 for $429 million, NeXTSTEP became the foundation for **macOS** and **iOS**. The object-oriented principles, the Mach kernel, and the user interface paradigms of NeXTSTEP laid the groundwork for Apple’s resurgence in the personal computing world with products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers.

3. **WorldWideWeb (First Web Browser)**: In 1991, **Tim Berners-Lee** developed the first-ever web browser and web server on a NeXT computer. This milestone helped birth the World Wide Web and the internet as we know it today. The graphical interface of NeXTSTEP made it an ideal platform for such pioneering work.

4. **Interface Builder**: The tool that allowed developers to create graphical user interfaces was developed on NeXT. It was highly innovative and led to the development of tools like **Xcode**, which Apple still uses for macOS and iOS development.

### Summary of NeXT's Impact:

- **NeXTSTEP** influenced the architecture of modern operating systems.

- The **NeXT computer** facilitated the creation of the World Wide Web, one of the most transformative technologies in history.

- The acquisition of NeXT by Apple brought Steve Jobs back, which played a crucial role in Apple’s transformation into a tech powerhouse.

- Core technologies from NeXT, including the use of Objective-C, the Mach kernel, and graphical interface innovations, are still evident in modern Apple products.

Thus, despite NeXT's hardware not achieving commercial success, its software contributions had a lasting and transformative impact on the computing industry.

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