It was noted early on that they would either be the last hardware startup to make it, or the first well-funded one to fail...
Ages ago, I was using similarly spec'ed computers running Windows (ThinkPad 755c), Mac OS (Mac Quadra 950), and NeXTstep (25MHz '040 Cube)--- the Cube was by far the nicest and most stable and most capable --- fortunately, its legacy lives on in Mac OS since Apple's purchase of NeXT essentially resulted in NeXT taking over Apple (just we don't get the vertical menu, pop-up main menu, tear off sub-menus, Display PostScript, PANTONE colour license, nxhosting, or the "Unix expert" checkbox) --- really wish that the folks behind GNUstep and the various desktop projects would get more traction.
Was lucky enough to score copies of Adobe Illustrator and Altsys Virtuoso, and I still have Macromedia Freehand set to open .vrt files (Freehand 4 ~= Virtuoso 2).
Really miss Lotus Improv (I've never been able to convince an employer that it would be worth paying for me to have a license of Quantrix Financial Modeler), and WriteNow is still one of my favourite wordprocessors --- at least TeXshop was modeled on TeXview.app, and has many of the same capabilities and much the same feel --- for a long while, I was the only person in a Mac composition shop for whom it made sense to use Mac OS X, since I was using TeXshop, and it was more comfortable to me than TeXtures (I think the license I was using was serial #018).
Turns out they really were inventing the future in that office, and the NeXT Cube has a better case for being the progenitor of the billions of slabs of glass, metal, and silicon that changed the world than any other computer.
If you're using a modern Mac today, you're essentially running a modernized version of NeXTSTEP, so actually it's NeXT which has survived by 'reverse-acquiring' Apple, and the original Mac has joined the technology graveyard along with Amiga, Atari etc...
...or actually... modern Macs are a NeXT/Archimedes hybrid - the software comes from NeXT, while the hardware is of Archimedes heritage ;)
Holy heck, looking at this in Google Earth: how I wish other companies had their back to some gorgeous land to go together across. What an incredible exponentiator, to be situated so nicely with some lands to walk across.
. . . famous for their wood-and-steel staircase that seemed to float in mid-air . . .
But what did this staircase look like?
Jobs found office space in Palo Alto, California, at 3475 Deer Creek Road,
occupying a glass-and-concrete building that featured a staircase designed by
the architect I. M. Pei. [0]
NeXT's expansion prompted renting an office at 800 and 900 Chesapeake Drive,
in Redwood City, also designed by Pei. The architectural centerpiece was a
"floating" staircase with no visible supports. [0]
One of their main features was the wood-and-steel staircase, which seemed to
float in mid-air, and came at a high cost of having elevators removed, upon
Steve's demand. The stairs would later inspire similar designs in the Apple
Retail Stores. Other striking features included a marble dining area and
$10,000 sofas. This lavish corporate environment was later understandably held
as evidence of what went wrong with NeXT. [1]
finally, an inkling of one of the staircases:
I had planned to shoot Steve with the incredible floating cement staircase
I.M. Pei designed for him in the lobby, a precursor to the clear glass version
that later became famous in the Apple stores. We begin setting up lights and
talking things over with Steve’s team. Finally Steve came storming in, hours
late due to traffic on his way down from Pixar, and in a terrible mood. He
took one look at my set up and announced, “This is just stupid. We are not
doing this.” [2]
However mercurial, Jobs’ willingness to change his mind about things was a huge asset. So many execs I work with haven’t had an original thought in years, and certainly haven’t reevaluated their stance on anything.
Sad.
It was noted early on that they would either be the last hardware startup to make it, or the first well-funded one to fail...
Ages ago, I was using similarly spec'ed computers running Windows (ThinkPad 755c), Mac OS (Mac Quadra 950), and NeXTstep (25MHz '040 Cube)--- the Cube was by far the nicest and most stable and most capable --- fortunately, its legacy lives on in Mac OS since Apple's purchase of NeXT essentially resulted in NeXT taking over Apple (just we don't get the vertical menu, pop-up main menu, tear off sub-menus, Display PostScript, PANTONE colour license, nxhosting, or the "Unix expert" checkbox) --- really wish that the folks behind GNUstep and the various desktop projects would get more traction.
Was lucky enough to score copies of Adobe Illustrator and Altsys Virtuoso, and I still have Macromedia Freehand set to open .vrt files (Freehand 4 ~= Virtuoso 2).
Really miss Lotus Improv (I've never been able to convince an employer that it would be worth paying for me to have a license of Quantrix Financial Modeler), and WriteNow is still one of my favourite wordprocessors --- at least TeXshop was modeled on TeXview.app, and has many of the same capabilities and much the same feel --- for a long while, I was the only person in a Mac composition shop for whom it made sense to use Mac OS X, since I was using TeXshop, and it was more comfortable to me than TeXtures (I think the license I was using was serial #018).
I dunno, it’s hard to be too sad.
Turns out they really were inventing the future in that office, and the NeXT Cube has a better case for being the progenitor of the billions of slabs of glass, metal, and silicon that changed the world than any other computer.
Computer history is paved with faults that, in technical perspective, should have never happened.
NeXT was not ahead of it's times. It hasn't been technically surpassed by any other product in the "next" 10 years.
So NeXT is one. IMHO, Amiga 1200, Archimedes and Sinclair QL are other ones.
It seems a mix of mismanagement and marketing (which maybe is still mismanagement).
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Both NeXT and Archimedes live on in one of the most successful computer products ever, so I guess „fault“ is relative.
If you're using a modern Mac today, you're essentially running a modernized version of NeXTSTEP, so actually it's NeXT which has survived by 'reverse-acquiring' Apple, and the original Mac has joined the technology graveyard along with Amiga, Atari etc...
...or actually... modern Macs are a NeXT/Archimedes hybrid - the software comes from NeXT, while the hardware is of Archimedes heritage ;)
I vaguely remember the office on Chesapeake Dr in Redwood City.
It had the requisite Steve Jobs interior design but that was augmented by an enormous mountain of white salt looming up behind it.
Sodium chloride. From evaporation ponds on the shores of the bay.
3475 Deer Creek Rd, currently occupied by SAP.
More photos of the former NeXT offices can be found in Stanford’s Douglas Menuez photography collection:
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/menuez/browse/next-computer-in...
“Deep Shit”
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/menuez/catalog/hx166dq1602
„Ankle Deep Shit“
I'd like to Return To those Offices
Probably not shown, but reportedly Jobs liked hiring lots of attractive women too. Good for sales.
> 3475 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA
Holy heck, looking at this in Google Earth: how I wish other companies had their back to some gorgeous land to go together across. What an incredible exponentiator, to be situated so nicely with some lands to walk across.
In picture 4 - is that an actual NeXT factory in Silicon Valley? I guess I knew that used to be a thing, but it's weird to see from today.
There's a promotional video of the NeXT factory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhIwfu73reE
Pretty stunning they had the factory in Fremont. Those were the days
Wow, that's a great video.
(Now I recall some old HN 'insider' ranting about how jobs moved this factory to china.)
Cargo Cult?
. . . famous for their wood-and-steel staircase that seemed to float in mid-air . . .
But what did this staircase look like?
finally, an inkling of one of the staircases: 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT1. https://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/pics_places/next
2. https://menuez.com/journal/steve-jobs-stupid-idea
However mercurial, Jobs’ willingness to change his mind about things was a huge asset. So many execs I work with haven’t had an original thought in years, and certainly haven’t reevaluated their stance on anything.
I think that's one of the huge gaps between a genius and an average man.