NeXT 040s may be on topic, but NeXTStep clearly isn't. But, I can't
resist...
There's no question that the desktop version of OS X differs
considerably from NeXTStep and OS X server 1.x (Rhapsody), which
apparently was NeXTStep with a Platinum wrapper. The 2D and 3D graphics
engines were completely rewritten, for example. But, the overall design,
structure and components of the current OS X are clearly "son of".
- both are BSD based
- both use a PostScript-based 2D engine (the change to Quartz from
Display PostScript was a financial, not technological, decision)
- both have the same object framework base (you see "Services"
in OS X as one outward sign of this)
- OS X includes one of the few profitable NeXT components,
Web Objects
Perhaps more telling is the experience of the OmniGroup, which moved
from NeXTStep to Rhapsody to Cocoa without missing a beat. It's their
understanding and experience with NeXT that gives OmniGroup apps a much
more 'native' user experience that we get from any other significant
Apple ISD. Developers who came in through the Mac OS door have produced
apps that feel "ported" and clunky, in comparison.
On Friday, July 26, 2002, at 11:21 PM, Paul Noss wrote:
> Many people say that OS X is based on NeXTStep, as someone said below.
>> - NeXTStep and Mac OS have merged (into OS X)
>
> However, several sources I have read strongly disagree with this
> statement.
> It seems a popular misconception that NeXTStep has something to do with
> OS
> X, but several sources say it does not. Now, Jobs was brought in to
> Apple
> when NeXT was purchased by Apple, but Jobs and Apple did not use
> NeXTStep
> for OS X. That was the original assumption, but once he was iCEO, Jobs
> changed his mind. That was one of the great ironies of Jobs and his
> return
> to Apple. He was brought in due to the NeXTStep purchase, yet little
> became
> of that deal. Before OS X was introduced, Apple did use NeXTStep for
> for OS
> X Server, but OS X as we use it today is quite different. I can list
> the
> sources for this claim, but it isn't that obscure. I remember one
> source is
> merely an issue of MacWorld, which is pretty commonplace. I remember in
> MacWorld one day, the latest news section discussed this issue quite
> clearly. But, other references are those books from a few years ago
> published on Apple Computer and its downfall, etc. I think David
> Pogue's
> "Secrets" book also refers to the break between NeXTStep and OS X.
>
> Just a friendly clarification from an anal-retentive college
> professor--that's me.
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