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NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

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Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#21

Post by cr0sh »

awfgylbcxhrey wrote: post #14
FreakyT wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They really were, though; astoundingly, System 7/8/9 didn't even support preemptive multitasking [1] which Windows 95 did have. [1] http://forums.macnn.com/64/classic-macs-and-mac-os/44121/wha...

And the Amiga had preemptive multitasking in 1985. :-) (It didn't have per-process memory protection, though, but it was a huge point of pride for Amiga users back in the early 90s)

Microware's OS-9 Level 1 had preemptive multitasking IIRC - this was late-1970s, early-80s - it was distributed by Radio Shack for the TRS-80 Color Computer line, which ran the 6809 8-bit processor, at something like .89 MHz (pretty f'in amazing when you think about it).

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#22

Post by Taniwha »

bitwize wrote: post #7
zeveb wrote: post #6

The article in general is pretty good, but this is off: > The Macintosh’s operating system was showing its age, especially compared to Microsoft’s Windows 95. I don't think that there was ever a point where Systems 7, 8 or 9 were worse than Windows 95.

While Apple was faffing about with Taligent and Copland, Microsoft shipped something that provided preemptive multitasking and memory isolation for 32-bit apps. Windows 95 was a collection of hacks that never should've worked but it put Apple behind the 8 ball to bring its OS tech into the present.

Apple also shipped A/UX which did all that

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#23

Post by to3m »

9oliYQjP wrote: post #10
zeveb wrote: post #6

The article in general is pretty good, but this is off: > The Macintosh’s operating system was showing its age, especially compared to Microsoft’s Windows 95. I don't think that there was ever a point where Systems 7, 8 or 9 were worse than Windows 95.

Windows 95 supported preemptive multitasking for 32-bit applications. Mac OS kept using cooperative multitasking for an embarrassingly long time through all versions of 7, 8, and 9. Macs didn't get preemptive multitasking until OS X came along although there was a half hearted API that some apps could opt into in OS 9. By that time, a lot of Windows users were already on Windows 2000 or moving up to XP, both of which…

Don't forget the per-process heap size bar that you had to adjust. If you were used to any 386 version of Windows, it was like going back to a very well-manicured version of the dark ages.

I'll freely admit that it was, in the main, not worse than MS-DOS, most of the time.

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#24

Post by flukus »

mrbill wrote: post #18

UnixWorld asked on it's April 1993 cover: "Does Steve Jobs have a future in software?" https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/29870210 One of my prized possessions is my NeXT Cube[1], finally acquired in 2014. I'd wanted one ever since I saw the "Actual Size" marketing brochure that came out in '89 or '90. I owned a series of slabs (mono, color, turbo color) throughout the years, but never managed to get my hands on a…

> then replacing the internal 18G SCSI

Was that in the original? Most machines were around 100-200MB at the time, if that. I was still on an amiga with no hard drive.

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#25

Post by mrbill »

flukus wrote: post #24
mrbill wrote: post #18

UnixWorld asked on it's April 1993 cover: "Does Steve Jobs have a future in software?" https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/29870210 One of my prized possessions is my NeXT Cube[1], finally acquired in 2014. I'd wanted one ever since I saw the "Actual Size" marketing brochure that came out in '89 or '90. I owned a series of slabs (mono, color, turbo color) throughout the years, but never managed to get my hands on a…

> then replacing the internal 18G SCSI Was that in the original? Most machines were around 100-200MB at the time, if that. I was still on an amiga with no hard drive.

Not by a long shot! Put in there by the friend who threw together a working system for me from the ones he had lying around.

A lot of those original sub-gigabyte drives in the slabs eventually went out with bad bearings (oh my the screeching sounds...)

We had a few Turbo Color slabs at an ISP that I worked for in the late 90s that had been acquired from a surplus place; they had "PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY" stickers on them and had been stripped of RAM and HDs of course.

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#26

Post by KirinDave »

My father was a lead in hardware engineering and manufacturing at NeXT. I have tons of footage of the amazing assembly technology that they used. I wonder if people would be interested in it.

It was heavily top secret at the time, but NeXT built their own custom robotics system (called thor) and had all sorts of amazing in-house manufacturing tech that was incredibly automated. The hardware itself was just beautiful, too.

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#27

Post by redcalx »

KirinDave wrote: post #26

My father was a lead in hardware engineering and manufacturing at NeXT. I have tons of footage of the amazing assembly technology that they used. I wonder if people would be interested in it. It was heavily top secret at the time, but NeXT built their own custom robotics system (called thor) and had all sorts of amazing in-house manufacturing tech that was incredibly automated. The hardware itself was just beautiful,…

> I wonder if people would be interested in it.

YES!

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#28

Post by grzm »

KirinDave wrote: post #26

My father was a lead in hardware engineering and manufacturing at NeXT. I have tons of footage of the amazing assembly technology that they used. I wonder if people would be interested in it. It was heavily top secret at the time, but NeXT built their own custom robotics system (called thor) and had all sorts of amazing in-house manufacturing tech that was incredibly automated. The hardware itself was just beautiful,…

I wonder if people would be interested in it.

Yes! I've seen stills. Seeing the assembly in motion would be great!

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#29

Post by itomato »

I can imagine a distorted future reality where the natural progression of WebObjects was based on early successes with NeXT's OOP stuff with AT&T and Chrysler.

While iTunes, the App Store and the whole "Digital Life" stem from a Web-based Minivan Configurator, looking back at WebObjects as a product to enable that for others seems so contrary to what Apple is today.

That Old World of Software Product SKUs has been turned on its head to great effect, and I think it really is better this way.

Re: NeXT: Steve Jobs’ Dot.com IPO That Never Happened

#30

Post by jdugan »

KirinDave wrote: post #26

My father was a lead in hardware engineering and manufacturing at NeXT. I have tons of footage of the amazing assembly technology that they used. I wonder if people would be interested in it. It was heavily top secret at the time, but NeXT built their own custom robotics system (called thor) and had all sorts of amazing in-house manufacturing tech that was incredibly automated. The hardware itself was just beautiful,…

Yes, that would be amazing.
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