rice_web
Oct 26, 09:26 PM
I'd guess that we'll see a move to Lithium Polymer batteries first (though two lithium polymer batteries never hurt anyone)
bcar0934
Oct 17, 12:51 AM
http://waves.apple.com/people/jav/JohnSings.html
Equally bad!
Equally bad!
Mitthrawnuruodo
May 13, 01:19 PM
I'm with Benjamin on this one... those logos/icons are similar, but not the same, at all, look at the reflection, the shadow, the shape of the "pointer", the angle, etc:
solvs
Oct 3, 03:48 PM
Originally posted by mayaLuvr
I waited and waited and still nothing new:(
The Dell Flat Panel 20inch is looking good now!
I have to switch between a G4, Dell and an SVHS (XBox, DVD, PS2 the works) for what I do (3D and Video).
Just found out that the Dell one can hold all three and switch betweend and get this....you can do picture in picture with the SVHS input as well!!!
Way cool if with a 1600x1200 rez:O)
Someone want to try and talk me out of this?
Its wayyy cheaper than a 22 Cinema display....
Nobody's stopping you.
Apple's not perfect (though they seem that way compared to the competion, to para-phrase another poster :D), and if you find a product that suits your needs better, especially if it's cheaper (less expensive, not lower quality) go for it. I think it'd be cool if Apple made something like that too, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Just make sure it really does suit your needs, and actually works.
Do come back and tell us if it doesn't.
And yeah, Formac's products are great, but their service sux.
At least you aren't switching to (or staying with) a PC because Apple doesn't make a Display (yet) that you don't like. This was just speculation people. Mac RUMORS. This wasn't even really a rumor. Just a guess cuz a promo ended.
I waited and waited and still nothing new:(
The Dell Flat Panel 20inch is looking good now!
I have to switch between a G4, Dell and an SVHS (XBox, DVD, PS2 the works) for what I do (3D and Video).
Just found out that the Dell one can hold all three and switch betweend and get this....you can do picture in picture with the SVHS input as well!!!
Way cool if with a 1600x1200 rez:O)
Someone want to try and talk me out of this?
Its wayyy cheaper than a 22 Cinema display....
Nobody's stopping you.
Apple's not perfect (though they seem that way compared to the competion, to para-phrase another poster :D), and if you find a product that suits your needs better, especially if it's cheaper (less expensive, not lower quality) go for it. I think it'd be cool if Apple made something like that too, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Just make sure it really does suit your needs, and actually works.
Do come back and tell us if it doesn't.
And yeah, Formac's products are great, but their service sux.
At least you aren't switching to (or staying with) a PC because Apple doesn't make a Display (yet) that you don't like. This was just speculation people. Mac RUMORS. This wasn't even really a rumor. Just a guess cuz a promo ended.
JSRockit
Sep 28, 09:07 AM
iBook (Soon):
G3 800Mhz or 700mhz G4,
Bus speed to 133mhz if Ti goes higher,
32MB VRAM.
iBook (later): G4, 13" Widescreen, Max Ram of 768MB, Bluetooth etc.
12" iBook becomes the low-end...and maybe even a CD-ROM version for $999.
14" iBook dies and maybe comes back as a SE iBook with better resolution and hopefully a better design...unless the 13" widescreen is the SE model.
G3 800Mhz or 700mhz G4,
Bus speed to 133mhz if Ti goes higher,
32MB VRAM.
iBook (later): G4, 13" Widescreen, Max Ram of 768MB, Bluetooth etc.
12" iBook becomes the low-end...and maybe even a CD-ROM version for $999.
14" iBook dies and maybe comes back as a SE iBook with better resolution and hopefully a better design...unless the 13" widescreen is the SE model.
wwooden
Mar 20, 11:02 AM
Mhmmmm...
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/hdmi-enabled-black-xbox-360-in-late-april-for-479/
Okay, assuming this isn't an April Fool's Joke (the price is quite awkward, but the article appears to be legit), I hope this means the Premium system gets a price drop. Price is a bigger hurdle for me. Then comes size (I have to figure out where to put this thing...), but I guess I just have to deal. It'd be cool if this means black X-Box's on the lower end models, but I doubt it. And it's very uncool the 120 GB hard drive will be available separately at $200 or under... Guess I'm sticking to iTunes for my media for a while longer.
If that's a picture of what a black 360 will look like, my god....that is hideous. The black and "chrome" completely clash with each other, they would need to make the drive door also black IMO.
I honestly could care less if they came out with a new system. I don't need a new harddrive, got plenty of space on mine and I don't download the movies. I don't really need HDMI as I am happy with how VGA looks. The only thing I would like to see Microsoft do is lower the price of the wireless adapter by half. $100 for a USB dongle is ridiculous, I would be willing to do $50.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/20/hdmi-enabled-black-xbox-360-in-late-april-for-479/
Okay, assuming this isn't an April Fool's Joke (the price is quite awkward, but the article appears to be legit), I hope this means the Premium system gets a price drop. Price is a bigger hurdle for me. Then comes size (I have to figure out where to put this thing...), but I guess I just have to deal. It'd be cool if this means black X-Box's on the lower end models, but I doubt it. And it's very uncool the 120 GB hard drive will be available separately at $200 or under... Guess I'm sticking to iTunes for my media for a while longer.
If that's a picture of what a black 360 will look like, my god....that is hideous. The black and "chrome" completely clash with each other, they would need to make the drive door also black IMO.
I honestly could care less if they came out with a new system. I don't need a new harddrive, got plenty of space on mine and I don't download the movies. I don't really need HDMI as I am happy with how VGA looks. The only thing I would like to see Microsoft do is lower the price of the wireless adapter by half. $100 for a USB dongle is ridiculous, I would be willing to do $50.
840quadra
May 24, 08:58 PM
YAY!!
Now I need to remember this Thread when I get home and back to my Macintosh!!
Thanks for the hard work, and the link!!
Now I need to remember this Thread when I get home and back to my Macintosh!!
Thanks for the hard work, and the link!!
MacsRgr8
Sep 8, 01:23 PM
Apple not interested in the Power4 ????
Do they have anything better up their sleeves?:confused:
Do they have anything better up their sleeves?:confused:
jelloshotsrule
Aug 29, 05:26 PM
am i the only one who saw this thing but had no idea what the heck i was looking at??
Akira
Sep 24, 11:02 AM
Originally posted by Chaszmyr
Sun has an UBER NICE 24.1'' LCD screen, but its max resolution is the same as the 23'' cinema
Here you can see the specs:
http://www.sun.com/ibb/hw/peripherals/monitors.html#24.1inch
I don't really like the design, and it's DVI...
Sun has an UBER NICE 24.1'' LCD screen, but its max resolution is the same as the 23'' cinema
Here you can see the specs:
http://www.sun.com/ibb/hw/peripherals/monitors.html#24.1inch
I don't really like the design, and it's DVI...
jefhatfield
Sep 12, 12:30 AM
Here is a distribution of the length of membership (in months) of the top 100 posters, ranging from 11 months to 50 months.
he he
am i the guy on the far right of the chart?
-jef, mr member since july 2000
he he
am i the guy on the far right of the chart?
-jef, mr member since july 2000
G5orbust
Sep 22, 09:22 PM
Originally posted by bousozoku
It was supposed to be fall 2002 but because of demand on the PC side exceeding expectations, it could be a bit later or there might be just a trickle of the boards bound for Macs.
Yea, why are we at the bottom of the damn totem pole here? I mean, macs have an OS that needs a good graphics card, and no doubt OSX 10.3 (panther) will require something good for its next gen of quatrx extreme. C'mon, ATI, bring the mac cards out! Every Peecee owner on the planet now has a gf4ti (cept the smart ones that see they dont need the uber frame rates), so none will buy in the volumes mac buyers will buy cuz apple just happens to put middle end graphics cards in their rigs, so a replacement will be advised, especially for g4's that have older graphics cards, such as the first AGP G4.
I also think the 9000 will sell like dollar per pound marijuana in Compton (hehe)
It was supposed to be fall 2002 but because of demand on the PC side exceeding expectations, it could be a bit later or there might be just a trickle of the boards bound for Macs.
Yea, why are we at the bottom of the damn totem pole here? I mean, macs have an OS that needs a good graphics card, and no doubt OSX 10.3 (panther) will require something good for its next gen of quatrx extreme. C'mon, ATI, bring the mac cards out! Every Peecee owner on the planet now has a gf4ti (cept the smart ones that see they dont need the uber frame rates), so none will buy in the volumes mac buyers will buy cuz apple just happens to put middle end graphics cards in their rigs, so a replacement will be advised, especially for g4's that have older graphics cards, such as the first AGP G4.
I also think the 9000 will sell like dollar per pound marijuana in Compton (hehe)
Phatpat
Aug 2, 05:40 PM
Does the iMac get loud if you fold on it 24/7?
My 1.8ghz iMac gets rather annoying, so I only use my PC...
My 1.8ghz iMac gets rather annoying, so I only use my PC...
MacBandit
Mar 1, 11:54 PM
It needs an IR emitter to change channels on it's own so it can control a Digital TV box when your away from home.
TheFink
Oct 2, 08:01 AM
At almost 9 pounds, not only will it toast your balls, it will crush them as well.
trainguy77
Apr 27, 07:50 PM
Lets catch those teams in front of us in folding! I want to pass those Dutch Power Cows soo bad. I remember when they passed us I was so mad, but know we will catch them in 3.6 months! We will pass SilentPCReview Folding@Home even faster, only 1.3 months. But we need to keep this output up! Come on guys we need more power. We need more people folding! I want to pass the Dutch Power Cows really bad so lets catch them fast!:D Good job guys lets keep it up!
mr evil brkfast
Sep 25, 07:06 PM
No. I think the 1Ghz is the better deal.
I really like the value of the 867- finally a non-crippled Pro machine at $1699 or $2699 in Canada is great. I'd wait until the next upgrade to even consider the top of the line.
I really like the value of the 867- finally a non-crippled Pro machine at $1699 or $2699 in Canada is great. I'd wait until the next upgrade to even consider the top of the line.
WinterMute
Oct 27, 05:24 AM
I was pointed here by a reference in a thread on osxaudio.com, I think this is the best forum site on the web, Mac or otherwise, but you can't really get in a big fight here, the mods are far too conciencious for that.;)
cycocelica
Mar 21, 06:26 PM
The only thing that makes me want one is that it is black and it looks damn sexy!
Everything else is just meh.
Everything else is just meh.
Chone
Mar 23, 08:09 PM
I had tons of fun with Oblivion, I played with a crummy 9600SE on my PC but I still got to enjoy tons, I played for 70 hours and then just got bored but I do not enjoy it much as an RPG, I do not think its much of an RPG, more like a very cool open-ended adventure game, I DO recommend it though.
When I got my Mac Pro I started playing again and it was fun for a few moments (because it looked so good now) but eventually I got bored of it.
If I have to be honest I have not much fond memories of the game, I did have fun and all but the Oblivion charm wore off relatively quick on me, I was not too fond of the leveling system, story, and the whole 3 voice actors for 200 characters really irked me.
I DO recommend getting it on PC simply because of the amazing amount of mods (put it simply, you don't like something, there is probably a mod to fix that), Oscuro Oblivion Overhaul pretty much makes Oblivion worth playing again, you can improve the visuals, etc. I think the PC version is definitely the one to get but of course you can't go wrong with PS3 either but mods make the gameplay infinitely flexible, you really can change the game altogether with mods.
When I got my Mac Pro I started playing again and it was fun for a few moments (because it looked so good now) but eventually I got bored of it.
If I have to be honest I have not much fond memories of the game, I did have fun and all but the Oblivion charm wore off relatively quick on me, I was not too fond of the leveling system, story, and the whole 3 voice actors for 200 characters really irked me.
I DO recommend getting it on PC simply because of the amazing amount of mods (put it simply, you don't like something, there is probably a mod to fix that), Oscuro Oblivion Overhaul pretty much makes Oblivion worth playing again, you can improve the visuals, etc. I think the PC version is definitely the one to get but of course you can't go wrong with PS3 either but mods make the gameplay infinitely flexible, you really can change the game altogether with mods.
FireArse
May 3, 02:16 PM
I miss MS Visio and MS Project (or whatever its called with the Gantt Chart) There are Mac apps that kinda do the same thing - but just not as developed.
F
F
Sky Blue
Mar 18, 08:29 AM
did Chrono-Trigger never make Europe officially ?
nope.
nope.
mr evil brkfast
Oct 1, 12:00 PM
I am starting to think that we'll be seeing perhaps new screens before the end of the month, may a new digital device; but no new hardware until next year.
I know that's a sad prediction, but I think that we'll see some major upgrades some time next year.
that is of course if Apple wants to stay in business.
I know that's a sad prediction, but I think that we'll see some major upgrades some time next year.
that is of course if Apple wants to stay in business.
RacerX
Jun 25, 02:24 PM
First, lets start out with the obvious... Why would you take either everything2.com or Wikipedia(1) as a better reference than me? If I put the contents of these posts on my site, would that make the information more valid for you than me talking directly to you and answering your questions?(2)
What I'm telling you is mostly from the NeXT community's point of view... the Mac community (specially back in the 1980s) followed Apple's party line on these events.
This book was co-written by the co-founder of MacWorld so I think you could probably say he was �in the community� when the NeXT story was unfolding.When started, MacWorld wasn't completely independent from Apple... in fact it was (to start with) part of Apple marketing for the Macintosh.
Ok, but this article says that the non-compete clause stated all NeXT computers had only (a big only of course but nevertheless) to be more powerful than the similar Apple product so it wouldn�t compete?Originally Posted by everything2.com
When Jobs promptly resigned, Apple sued him for dereliction of duties (hah!)....I don�t quite understand that (there has to be more to it) but it would link with the prices and specs you give above that make each NeXT system more powerful and better specced than anything Apple had.
Well, Jobs had no duties at Apple... and he had free reign of the company to go where he pleased and do as he pleased. And so he went around talking to people about starting up a new computer company.
At this stage the company they were talking about was aimed at the education market and Jobs presented his ideas to the Apple board to get their support... and more importantly, their financial backing. He honestly believed that Apple would help him do this.
The board, when seeing the people Jobs was going to take with him sued.
It was at this point when Next (as it was originally written) abandon the education market as anything more than a jumping off point into other markets. Rather than being an Apple partner, Next was to be a stand alone computer company.
This change (in Apple's eyes) upped the ante in the legal case. It was no longer about taking both key and non-key people from Apple, Next was now going to be a full on competitor with Apple.
This was where the non-compete clause came in. Next could sell in any market other than Apple's core market, the desktop. This really only left open the workstation and server markets. It was the fact that Next was being forced into the workstation market that pushed Unix at them. They needed to be Unix based to compete as workstation class systems.
To think that the addition of Unix was for students is completely illogical. By adding in Unix, Next was adding on an additional $700 in licensing per computer that could have been avoided if Unix wasn't there.
No, Next wasn't designing computers for schools... they were designing workstations to compete with the likes of Sun and Silicon Graphics.
I can�t find anything that says NeXT targeted the education market as a first step...But that was while he was still with Apple and Next was going to be an Apple partner company... not a competitor or a stand alone computer company. Apple's rejection of Jobs and his ideas radically change the directions of what Next was going to be before Next was really fully formed as a company.
Furthermore, according to wikipedia one of the main connotations for the emphasized �e� in NeXT is supposedly �education�.
However, because the NeXT cube was shunned by its core market, it then had to try and break into the workstation market because:Originally Posted by everything2.com
Although the press was in love with the machine, its target market, higher education, saw things differently. Although it came with a full array of programs including Mathematica, a reference library, and the full works of William Shakespeare, it was too expensive and loaded to be a personal computer, yet too underpowered to be a workstation, the computer was dubbed by NeXT marketing to be a "personal workstation.Like I said, unless you think everyone at NeXT was a fool, the system they designed wasn't designed for students. It was designed for mid-range workstation use.
And it is major revisionist history to say that NeXT computers were underpowered. Motorola's 68030 was a workstation class processor at the time, and Silicon Graphics had just previously been using the 68020 as their main processor.
Both Apple and NeXT were using processors that far exceeded anything used in Intel based PCs at that time. Further, NeXT started using the 68040 more than a year before Apple. The 68040 was as fast as the MIPS R3000 processor used in Silicon Graphics systems and the microSPARC used by Sun.
Like I said, the only reason for using Unix was because the system wasn't aimed at students or the desktop. And the inclusion of Mathematica is a perfect example of what it was designed for... high end mathematics (the area I first started using NeXT system in). Also Mathematica wasn't included on systems sold outside the education market. If you wanted Mathematica on a NeXT system and were not a student/educator, you were paying full price. But you were also paying to run Mathematica on the best system for Mathematica.
And how good was Mathematica on NeXT hardware?
Last month after a presentation I gave someone came up to me to ask about NeXT software and hardware. What they wanted it for was to run a copy of Mathematica on (which version 3 can still be purchased for NeXT hardware for $35).(3)
Mathematica isn't software for students... it is professional software for mathematicians. A single user license of Mathematica today is about $1,800, which is more than twice the price of QuarkXPress.
These were designed as professional, workstation class, systems.
On the subject of the change from Next to NeXT, this was done when Paul Rand of Yale designed the NeXT logo. He took his inspiration from Robert Indiana's LOVE painting. Rand's idea for emphasizing the "e" by making it the only lower case letter was to represent education, excellence, expertise, exceptional, excitement and e=mc2. So yeah, education was part of it... but then again, so is Special Relativity and I don't see anyone saying that these computers were designed for just the physics market.
http://www.shawcomputing.net/racerx/love_next.jpg
The LOVE painting and NeXT logo
Is it not necessarily that they got it all wrong and all right, just that the pieces came together better the second time round at Apple and Steve had learnt from his experiences and applied a better ethic?Well, if you discount what I'm saying for what others are saying... then NeXT people were practically morons.
When you add in the factors I'm telling you about, you start to realize that to have made it to 1996 was an amazing task. And the fact that Sun was about to attack the desktop market based on a partnership with NeXT tells you where NeXT was at the time that Apple acquired them. NeXT had given up on operating systems by this point in the same way that they had given up on hardware in 1993. Handing that part of their business over to Sun would at least give people a chance to experience NEXTSTEP... even if it was Solaris underneath rather than Mach/BSD.
But NeXT wasn't about to go under at that point either. NeXT was going to keep the areas that made them money... OpenStep Enterprise (runtime environment for other platforms), Enterprise Objects and WebObjects.
And like I've said many times before, Sun was flush with cash at this point. They were more than willing to buy any company that they saw as being up for sale... and NeXT wasn't up for sale.
:rolleyes:
Well, except for when Jobs offered it to Apple.
Is there any recommended reading on the subject?!I haven't found any good books on NeXT... not that tell the whole story.
Sadly, most skip the points of the settlement, what NeXT was aiming for early on, just how powerful NeXT computers were at the time of there original release (comparable in speed to both the low end Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations), and the direction NeXT was going with Sun before Apple bought them (which seems to be universally ignored by everyone).
All of those were major factors in the history of NeXT. But all those factors contradict the legend of the NeXT's failure... which seems to be the only story worth printing.
(1) Wikipedia is full of errors on the history of NeXT, Rhapsody and Apple. A good example is that Wikipedia has TextEdit as being the replacement for WriteNow on NeXT computers. TextEdit was a demo app included with OPENSTEP and didn't become the default word processor until the release of Rhapsody. From NEXTSTEP 2.1 to OPENSTEP 4.2 the default word processor was Edit.
(2) The reason I'm willing to write all this is that it gives me an excuse to finally write it all down so I can eventually make a page on this for my NeXT site.
(3) I, personally, run Mathematica 2.2.2 on my PowerBook 3400c, PowerBook Duo 2300c and in Blue Box on my PowerMac 8600/300. While nice software, I rarely had use for any computer stuff in my area of mathematics. I do run Geomview on an OPENSTEP system though.
What I'm telling you is mostly from the NeXT community's point of view... the Mac community (specially back in the 1980s) followed Apple's party line on these events.
This book was co-written by the co-founder of MacWorld so I think you could probably say he was �in the community� when the NeXT story was unfolding.When started, MacWorld wasn't completely independent from Apple... in fact it was (to start with) part of Apple marketing for the Macintosh.
Ok, but this article says that the non-compete clause stated all NeXT computers had only (a big only of course but nevertheless) to be more powerful than the similar Apple product so it wouldn�t compete?Originally Posted by everything2.com
When Jobs promptly resigned, Apple sued him for dereliction of duties (hah!)....I don�t quite understand that (there has to be more to it) but it would link with the prices and specs you give above that make each NeXT system more powerful and better specced than anything Apple had.
Well, Jobs had no duties at Apple... and he had free reign of the company to go where he pleased and do as he pleased. And so he went around talking to people about starting up a new computer company.
At this stage the company they were talking about was aimed at the education market and Jobs presented his ideas to the Apple board to get their support... and more importantly, their financial backing. He honestly believed that Apple would help him do this.
The board, when seeing the people Jobs was going to take with him sued.
It was at this point when Next (as it was originally written) abandon the education market as anything more than a jumping off point into other markets. Rather than being an Apple partner, Next was to be a stand alone computer company.
This change (in Apple's eyes) upped the ante in the legal case. It was no longer about taking both key and non-key people from Apple, Next was now going to be a full on competitor with Apple.
This was where the non-compete clause came in. Next could sell in any market other than Apple's core market, the desktop. This really only left open the workstation and server markets. It was the fact that Next was being forced into the workstation market that pushed Unix at them. They needed to be Unix based to compete as workstation class systems.
To think that the addition of Unix was for students is completely illogical. By adding in Unix, Next was adding on an additional $700 in licensing per computer that could have been avoided if Unix wasn't there.
No, Next wasn't designing computers for schools... they were designing workstations to compete with the likes of Sun and Silicon Graphics.
I can�t find anything that says NeXT targeted the education market as a first step...But that was while he was still with Apple and Next was going to be an Apple partner company... not a competitor or a stand alone computer company. Apple's rejection of Jobs and his ideas radically change the directions of what Next was going to be before Next was really fully formed as a company.
Furthermore, according to wikipedia one of the main connotations for the emphasized �e� in NeXT is supposedly �education�.
However, because the NeXT cube was shunned by its core market, it then had to try and break into the workstation market because:Originally Posted by everything2.com
Although the press was in love with the machine, its target market, higher education, saw things differently. Although it came with a full array of programs including Mathematica, a reference library, and the full works of William Shakespeare, it was too expensive and loaded to be a personal computer, yet too underpowered to be a workstation, the computer was dubbed by NeXT marketing to be a "personal workstation.Like I said, unless you think everyone at NeXT was a fool, the system they designed wasn't designed for students. It was designed for mid-range workstation use.
And it is major revisionist history to say that NeXT computers were underpowered. Motorola's 68030 was a workstation class processor at the time, and Silicon Graphics had just previously been using the 68020 as their main processor.
Both Apple and NeXT were using processors that far exceeded anything used in Intel based PCs at that time. Further, NeXT started using the 68040 more than a year before Apple. The 68040 was as fast as the MIPS R3000 processor used in Silicon Graphics systems and the microSPARC used by Sun.
Like I said, the only reason for using Unix was because the system wasn't aimed at students or the desktop. And the inclusion of Mathematica is a perfect example of what it was designed for... high end mathematics (the area I first started using NeXT system in). Also Mathematica wasn't included on systems sold outside the education market. If you wanted Mathematica on a NeXT system and were not a student/educator, you were paying full price. But you were also paying to run Mathematica on the best system for Mathematica.
And how good was Mathematica on NeXT hardware?
Last month after a presentation I gave someone came up to me to ask about NeXT software and hardware. What they wanted it for was to run a copy of Mathematica on (which version 3 can still be purchased for NeXT hardware for $35).(3)
Mathematica isn't software for students... it is professional software for mathematicians. A single user license of Mathematica today is about $1,800, which is more than twice the price of QuarkXPress.
These were designed as professional, workstation class, systems.
On the subject of the change from Next to NeXT, this was done when Paul Rand of Yale designed the NeXT logo. He took his inspiration from Robert Indiana's LOVE painting. Rand's idea for emphasizing the "e" by making it the only lower case letter was to represent education, excellence, expertise, exceptional, excitement and e=mc2. So yeah, education was part of it... but then again, so is Special Relativity and I don't see anyone saying that these computers were designed for just the physics market.
http://www.shawcomputing.net/racerx/love_next.jpg
The LOVE painting and NeXT logo
Is it not necessarily that they got it all wrong and all right, just that the pieces came together better the second time round at Apple and Steve had learnt from his experiences and applied a better ethic?Well, if you discount what I'm saying for what others are saying... then NeXT people were practically morons.
When you add in the factors I'm telling you about, you start to realize that to have made it to 1996 was an amazing task. And the fact that Sun was about to attack the desktop market based on a partnership with NeXT tells you where NeXT was at the time that Apple acquired them. NeXT had given up on operating systems by this point in the same way that they had given up on hardware in 1993. Handing that part of their business over to Sun would at least give people a chance to experience NEXTSTEP... even if it was Solaris underneath rather than Mach/BSD.
But NeXT wasn't about to go under at that point either. NeXT was going to keep the areas that made them money... OpenStep Enterprise (runtime environment for other platforms), Enterprise Objects and WebObjects.
And like I've said many times before, Sun was flush with cash at this point. They were more than willing to buy any company that they saw as being up for sale... and NeXT wasn't up for sale.
:rolleyes:
Well, except for when Jobs offered it to Apple.
Is there any recommended reading on the subject?!I haven't found any good books on NeXT... not that tell the whole story.
Sadly, most skip the points of the settlement, what NeXT was aiming for early on, just how powerful NeXT computers were at the time of there original release (comparable in speed to both the low end Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations), and the direction NeXT was going with Sun before Apple bought them (which seems to be universally ignored by everyone).
All of those were major factors in the history of NeXT. But all those factors contradict the legend of the NeXT's failure... which seems to be the only story worth printing.
(1) Wikipedia is full of errors on the history of NeXT, Rhapsody and Apple. A good example is that Wikipedia has TextEdit as being the replacement for WriteNow on NeXT computers. TextEdit was a demo app included with OPENSTEP and didn't become the default word processor until the release of Rhapsody. From NEXTSTEP 2.1 to OPENSTEP 4.2 the default word processor was Edit.
(2) The reason I'm willing to write all this is that it gives me an excuse to finally write it all down so I can eventually make a page on this for my NeXT site.
(3) I, personally, run Mathematica 2.2.2 on my PowerBook 3400c, PowerBook Duo 2300c and in Blue Box on my PowerMac 8600/300. While nice software, I rarely had use for any computer stuff in my area of mathematics. I do run Geomview on an OPENSTEP system though.