After Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple
in 1985, everyone wanted to know what Steve would do
next.... so NeXT was what he did.
In 1988 his NeXT team launched a new kind of computer for
it's time, built on standards with a Unix core but with a
user experience "my grandma could understand". It was well
ahead of it's time, so naturally, it was not embraced by
main stream consumers... a classic "Crossing the Chasm"
issue. But many saw it for what it was, a breakthrough
product as innovative as today's iTunes, iPod and iPhone.
Building upon NeXT's hardware and more importantly, their
software development environment, many third party NeXT
developers added their own magic dust to create
revolutionary products, like the world's first web browser,
or a new form of spread sheet, Lotus Improv or WebObjects,
the foundation upon which the iTune store is built, to name
only a few. Some of these ground breaking products may
never be repeated. Most contained innovations embraced by
future applications, with a clear lineage back to NeXTSTEP.
During the relatively short time of NeXT ascendency
(1985-1996), Apple was bleeding red ink from repeated
financial losses and two hugely expensive attempts to
create a follow on Operating System. Apple's third
president since Steve's departure, Gil Amelio saw the
merits of Steve, his team and their technology. In December
1996 Apple bought Next. Then the Next team took over Apple.
The result is their hugely successful Mac OS X, built on
the foundations of the NeXTSTEP OS.
While NeXT is no more, as a product or a stand alone
company, it's impact on the industry will be felt for years
to come. We should remember it, perhaps even study it. In
decades to come, it will be understood as a watershed of
innovation. Current Mac and iPhone users will be astonished
to see how many of their beloved Mac OS X innovations had
their roots in NeXTSTEP. There are many lessons about
product innovation, market acceptance, and the creative
people involved, that have yet to be uncovered.
This web site details part of our unique collection of NeXT
related products and assorted items which grew up around
NeXT Computer ecosystem, including of course NeXT hardware
but also those rare items such as dealer sales kits, logo'd
clothing, NeXT jewelry, banners, training tapes for
servicing NeXT computers and printers, developer guides,
plus third party software and hardware products.
While the site describes only part of the actual
collection, the site does cover over 800 NeXT and third
party products, many with multipage brochures and white
papers. If you were to print all the html and PDF documents
it would be over 3,000 pages.
This site describes what may well be the most extensive
NeXT related collection available today.
It's history worth preserving.