NeXTSTEP
EULA | |
Succeeded by | OpenStep, Darwin, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, GNUstep |
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Part of a series on |
macOS |
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NeXTSTEP is a discontinued
Although relatively unsuccessful at the time, it attracted interest from computer scientists and researchers. It hosted the original development of the Electronic AppWrapper,[1] the first commercial electronic software distribution catalog to collectively manage encryption and provide digital rights for application software and digital media, a forerunner of the modern "app store" concept. It is the platform on which Tim Berners-Lee created the first web browser, and on which id Software developed the video games Doom and Quake.[2][3]
In 1996,
Overview
NeXTSTEP (also stylized as NeXTstep, NeXTStep, and NEXTSTEP[4][5]) is a combination of several parts:
- a Mach kernel, plus BSD
- Display PostScript and a proprietary windowing engine
- the Objective-C language and runtime
- an object-oriented (OO) application layer, including several "kits"
- development tools for the OO layers.
NeXTSTEP is a preeminent implementation of the last three items. The toolkits are the canonical development system for all of the software on the system.
It introduced the idea of the
Additional kits were added to the product line. These include Portable Distributed Objects (PDO), which allow easy
History
NeXTSTEP was built upon Mach and BSD, initially
NeXT separated the underlying operating system from the application frameworks, producing
Legacy
The first web browser, WorldWideWeb, and the first app store[7] were all invented on the NeXTSTEP platform.
1990 CERN: A Joint proposal for a hypertext system is presented to the management. Mike Sendall buys a NeXT cube for evaluation, and gives it to Tim Berners-Lee. Tim's prototype implementation on NeXTSTEP is made in the space of a few months, thanks to the qualities of the NeXTSTEP software development system. This prototype offers WYSIWYG browsing/authoring! Current Web browsers used in "surfing the Internet" are mere passive windows, depriving the user of the possibility to contribute. During some sessions in the CERN cafeteria, Tim and I try to find a catching name for the system. I was determined that the name should not yet again be taken from Greek mythology. Tim proposes "World-Wide Web". I like this very much, except that it is difficult to pronounce in French...
— Robert Cailliau, 2 November 1995[8]
Some features and
In the 1990s, the pioneering PC games Doom, Doom II, Quake, and their respective level editors were developed by id Software on NeXT machines. Other games based on the Doom engine such as Heretic and its sequel Hexen by Raven Software, and Strife by Rogue Entertainment were developed on NeXT hardware using id's tools.[10]
About the time of the release of NeXTSTEP 3.2, NeXT partnered with
Following an announcement on December 20, 1996,.
GNUstep is a free software implementation of the OpenStep standard.[15]
Release history
Version | Date | Distribution medium | Architecture | Basis | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.8 | October 12, 1988 | MO disc
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m68k | 4.3BSD-Tahoe | NeXTStep netboot, NFS
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0.8a | 1988 | MO disc | m68k | ||
0.9 | 1988 | MO disc | m68k | NeXT 0.9/1.0 Release Description | |
1.0 | 1989 | MO disc | m68k | ||
1.0a | 1989 | MO disc | m68k | Photo of NeXTSTEP 1.0a MO disc | |
2.0 | September 18, 1990 | MO disc, CD-ROM | m68k | Support for the NeXTstation, NeXTcube (68040). Support for floppy disk, CD-ROM, Fax modems, and color graphics. Workspace Manager now has the Shelf, copies performed in background, black hole is replaced by recycler icon. Terminal.app. Dynamic loading of drivers.[16][17] | |
2.1 | March 25, 1991 | MO disc, CD-ROM | m68k | Support for the NeXTdimension board. TeX, Internationalization improvements. New machines with 2.1 include Lotus Improv.[16] | |
2.1a | MO disc, CD-ROM | m68k | |||
2.2 | CD-ROM | m68k | Support for the NeXTstation Turbo | ||
3.0 | September 8, 1992[18] | CD-ROM | m68k | 4.3BSD-Reno | Novell NetWare .
|
3.1 | May 25, 1993 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386 | First release for the i386 architecture, introducing fat binaries. | |
3.2 | October 1993 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386 | ||
3.3 | February 1995 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386, SPARC, PA-RISC | Support for the PA-RISC and SPARC architectures added, introducing Quad-fat Binaries. Last and most popular version released under the name NEXTSTEP. Referred to as NEXTSTEP/m68k, NEXTSTEP/Intel, NEXTSTEP/SPARC. NEXTSTEP/PA-RISC
Delivered on 2 CDs: NeXTSTEP RISC. The Developer CD includes libraries for all architectures, so that programs can be cross-compiled on any architecture for all architectures.
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4.0 beta | 1996 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386, SPARC, PA-RISC | Very different user interface.[19][20] Notable as being a precursor of many ideas later introduced in the macOS Dock.
Allegedly dropped due to complaints of having to re-teach users but not for technical reasons (the new UI worked well in the beta). | |
4.0 | July 1996 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386, SPARC | Support for the Windows .
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4.1 | January 1997 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386, SPARC | Support for m68k, i486, and SPARC architectures, and OpenStep for Windows, under OPENSTEP Enterprise (NT only). | |
4.2 Pre-release 2 | September 1997 | CD-ROM | m68k, i386, SPARC | Pre-release 2 circulated to limited number of developers before OpenStep and Apple acquisition. | |
Rhapsody | August 31, 1997 - October 27, 2000 | CD-ROM | i386, PowerPC | 4.4BSD | Released after the Mac OS X. For example, they can still be used as remote display via NXHost.[21]
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Versions up to 4.1 are general releases. OPENSTEP 4.2 pre-release 2 is a bug-fix release published by Apple and supported for five years after its September 1997 release.
See also
- application programming interfacederived from NeXTSTEP
- GNUstep, an open-source implementation of Cocoa API respectively OpenStep API
- Window Maker, a window manager designed to simulate the NeXT GUI for the X Window System
- Bundle (macOS), originating in NeXTSTEP and carrying into macOS
- Miller Columns, the method of directory browsing that NeXTSTEP's File Viewer used
- Multi-architecture binary
- NeXT character set
References
- ^ "Electronic AppWrapper". Kevra.org. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
- ^ "Apple-NeXT Merger Birthday!". rome.ro. December 20, 2006. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ "GameTales: Cray 6400". rome.ro. January 31, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ a b Ford, Kevin (2008). "What's with all the NeXT names?". www.kevra.org. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
- ^ Engel, Tomi (January 11, 2000). "OpenStep Confusion". Object Farm. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ Singh, Amit (December 2003). "What is Mac OS X?". osxbook.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
- ^ "Jesse Tayler talks App Store and NeXTSTEP with AppStorey". AppStorey. April 11, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- ^ "Roads and Crossroads of Internet History Chapter 4: Birth of the Web".
- ^ "Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb, the first Web client".
- ^ "Apple-NeXT Merger Birthday!". Archived from the original on March 5, 2007.
- ^ "Why OS X is on the iPhone, but not the PC". Roughly Drafted. January 24, 2007.
MCI used NeXT software to power its revolutionary Friends and Family networking referral campaign, which other rivals couldn't match for years.
- ^ "Water Utility Consultants | Water Utility Consulting by StepWise". Stepwise.com. September 12, 2012. Archived from the original on April 7, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
- ^ "Apple Computer, Inc. Agrees to Acquire NeXT Software Inc" (Press release). Apple Computer, Inc. December 20, 1996. Archived from the original on March 1, 1997. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
- ISBN 9781886411289.
- ^ "GNUStep: Introduction". GNUStep.org. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
- ^ a b "Logiciels NeXT" [NeXT software] (in French).
- ^ "NeXTSTEP 2.0 Release Notes (User)" (PDF).
- ^ "NeXT Ships NeXTSTEP Release 3.0, Third Generation of the Complete Object-Oriented Environment". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
- ^ "NextStep 4 Beta demo video, part 1". YouTube.
- ^ "NextStep 4 Beta demo video, part 2". YouTube.
- ^ "Andrew's Simple Guide to running NeXTSTEP/OpenStep Apps on Mac OS X Server".
External links
- NeXT at Curlie
- NeXTComputers.org
- Video of Steve Jobs Demoing NeXTSTEP Release 3 on YouTube
- The Next Step BYTE Magazine 14–03, Object Oriented Programming with NextStep