Chapter 28 Section 5 Invitation from Apple

As luck would have it, just as NeXT was struggling to maintain its software business and suffered repeated defeats, a bidding invitation from Apple once again linked Jobs with the Apple he had created.This time, Apple is not looking at Jobs, but the NeXTSTEP operating system. When he left Apple that year, Jobs once told the board of directors that the new technologies and products developed by NeXT in the future may return to Apple through acquisition or authorization.Everyone knows that what Jobs said at that time was nothing more than an angry sentence, just like an infatuated man who was abandoned by his lover said "you will definitely think of my benefits in the future".Who would have thought that when NeXT was on the verge of collapse, it was Apple who took a fancy to NeXT technology.

NeXT is struggling to survive, and Apple's side is also in turmoil. In 1996, Apple's new CEO Amelio, who took office on the fire line, was like a firefighter, non-stop to solve the crisis and fill in the loopholes.At that time, Apple faced various serious challenges, but the most important problem was the decline in product quality. The Macintosh system runs slowly, and crashes every now and then, directly affecting the reputation and sales of Apple products, and Amelio is very anxious about this. The operating system used by the Macintosh at the time was Mac OS version 7.In fact, since the Macintosh switched to Power PC chips, the operating system has been unstable, with frequent crashes. The IE browser and Office suite developed by Microsoft for Apple are far less stable on Mac OS than on Windows.The complaints from users have been one wave after another.

The Mac OS development team found itself in a terrible loop.Every time the problem reported by the user seems to be not difficult to solve, but after this batch of problems is fixed, a new batch of problems will appear.Engineers are exhausted.This seems to indicate that the 7th version of the Mac OS operating system is terminally ill and beyond recovery. In order to break out of this vicious cycle, the Mac OS team decided to devote a lot of manpower to the development of a new version of the operating system.The new version of the operating system is codenamed Copland.At the same time, there is another, longer-term operating system development plan, code-named Gershwin.

Developing a new operating system is easier said than done.When most engineers flocked to the development of the new operating system, but could not make a breakthrough in a short period of time, Apple fell into a common dilemma in software development. The old system lacked maintenance and the new system was repeatedly delayed.Historically, many large software projects have died this way. Amelio found that after investing a lot of time and resources, Copland is just a few functional modules that cannot be connected together, and Gershwin is even more of a castle in the air.Amelio had to force the development team to shift some of their focus to fix Mac OS 7 bugs.

Facing the messy development situation, Amelio, who was sleepless all night under the pressure of the market and users, felt that he had only one option left—purchasing a mature operating system. What kind of operating system should I choose? Amelio and Bill Gates are good friends in business.Although the IBM PC and Apple Computer were incompatible, Microsoft and Apple have maintained a stumbling, inseparable partnership.On the one hand, Apple's intellectual property lawsuit against Microsoft has been inconclusive; on the other hand, Microsoft has been developing Office and IE for Mac OS.When thinking of purchasing an operating system, Amelio first thought of Microsoft.

"Hey, Bill, what do you think if Microsoft develops an operating system for Apple's Macintosh based on NT?" Amelio called to ask Gates for his opinion. "Operating system?" Gates was silent for a while on the other end of the phone, and suddenly said happily, "Of course, Microsoft is willing to develop an operating system for Apple computers, there is no doubt about it! I believe that Microsoft is Apple's best choose!" "real?" "Please rest assured, if this list is handed over to Microsoft, I will invest in a development team of several hundred people." Gates said in a big way.

It can be heard that Gates wanted to win this list so much that he didn't even think about how difficult it would be to port Win-dows NT to the Macintosh platform. Amelio knew that Apple CEO asked Microsoft to help develop the operating system, how ridiculous this matter sounds.But Amelio is a businessman, and the grievances between Apple and Microsoft must give way to rational analysis based on interests. Windows was the most popular operating system with the best software compatibility at the time. Why couldn't Apple be "vulgar" this time? Of course, the shrewd Gates still hides more mysteries behind his promise.Soon, Gates offered Amelio a quid pro quo.

Gates said: "Apple is particularly good at human-computer interaction. If the bottom layer of the new operating system is based on Windows NT, and the upper layer is based on Apple's human-computer interaction technology, it will be the most perfect result. And, in this way, the knowledge between you and me Property rights disputes have also been easily resolved.” The implication is that Gates wants to obtain Apple's superior technology for free during the cooperation, and at the same time cancel the lawsuit between Apple and Microsoft. Gates pushed aggressively for the deal.Microsoft engineers also flew to Silicon Valley to discuss technical details with Apple employees.But soon everyone found that the workload of operating system transplantation and user interface technology integration was too great. Even Amelio, who didn't know much about software development, had to admit that this was by no means a task that could be completed in a short time.

Are there other alternative operating systems? Amelio thought of the Frenchman Jean-Louis Casey.Remember this Cassie? Eleven years ago, when Jobs was kicked out of the Macintosh team by Sculley, it was Cassie who took over the Macintosh team.Of course, Cassie ended up not much better than Jobs.Cassie did not do badly at the beginning, and soon he was promoted and took charge of Apple's new product development and global marketing. There were even rumors within Apple that Cassie was Sculley's successor.But the good times didn't last long. Due to the lack of execution, many of the products Cassie was in charge of fell into the cycle of delaying the launch again and again. In 1990, Sculley forced Casey to resign, just as he had driven Jobs away.

After resigning, Cassie founded a company called Be, and he still chose the direction of computer and operating system research and development.The newly developed operating system, called BeOS, is used on the computer BeBox.The new operating system is unique in multitasking parallel processing.At that time, Apple was imitating IBM and authorizing other manufacturers to develop Macintosh compatible machines.Cassie saw this business opportunity and ported BeOS to the Macintosh platform.He wanted BeOS to be the operating system of choice for Macintosh compatibles.But Be's business is not as good as Jobs' NeXT, and the BeBox system only sold 2,000 sets before it died.

Because of the relationship between the development of the Macintosh compatible operating system, Cassie remained in close contact with Apple after his resignation.Amelio knew that BeOS was already an operating system that could run directly on the Macintosh and was largely compatible with Mac OS.Outsourcing BeOS can obviously save a lot of cost and time.Of course, BeOS has just been developed and has not passed the test of large-scale application. Whether it is really more stable than Mac OS is still a big question mark. Cassie was too excited to sleep when she heard that Apple was going to choose an operating system.He found Amelio and said: "Our operating system is ready-made, and it can be released on the Macintosh in a few weeks." Windows NT is more popular and more stable, but porting takes more time. BeOS is not necessarily mature, but it is readily available.Amelio needs to make a choice between the two.Maybe it's because Cassie is a veteran of Apple, or maybe he has lingering fears about Gates. The balance in Amelio's heart gradually fell to the side of BeOS. Business negotiations between Apple and Be have entered into a substantive process.Casey even promised: "I love Apple. I want to see Apple succeed. If there is a deal, I can join Apple and help run the software division." But the bargaining process was not smooth.Apple wants to buy the entire Be company, and only plans to pay $125 million.Casey wanted to sell the company for $200 million to $400 million.Amelio hesitated again. Jobs?Amelio suddenly remembered, wasn't Jobs developing and selling the NeXTSTEP operating system? Previously, Amelio and Jobs had dealt with each other because of compatibility with Macintosh licensing.Although the talks at the time broke up unhappy, Amelio had seen the power of the NeXTSTEP operating system.Is it possible to replace Apple's existing operating system with NeXTSTEP? Coincidentally.Just when Amelio thought of NeXTSTEP but couldn't make up his mind, at the end of November, Apple's chief technology officer Ellen Hancock (Ellen Hancock) received a call from a stranger.At the time, Hancock was on a business trip in Europe. "I'm a salesperson at NeXT Software Corporation." The stranger on the phone introduced himself. "NeXT?" "Yes, NeXT. We develop the NeXTSTEP operating system. I wonder, is it possible for Apple to consider NeXTSTEP as the next operating system?" Hancock was one of the cronies Amelio brought with him from National Semiconductor when he joined Apple.She reported the situation to Amelio immediately.Both Amelio and Hancock felt that Jobs must have known the information that Apple was choosing an operating system, otherwise, he would not let the salesman call to inquire at this juncture.Now that the two sides think of being together, let's talk about it. On the afternoon of December 2, Jobs, who had just returned from a business trip in Japan, came to Apple headquarters.In the face of Amelio, Jobs showed extraordinary sales skills as soon as he opened his mouth: "I noticed that there is a potential opportunity for NeXT to help Apple." Jobs paused and continued, "I don't know if you are really interested in this, but allow me to tell you that in this plan Where is the biggest attraction. Maybe, it's a totally crazy idea, I don't even know why I'm here to sell you this plan. But let's see if it works or not. " Jobs first asserted that choosing BeOS would be a disaster for Apple.It seems that Jobs did his homework before he came, and he knew the process of Apple's negotiation with Be well.He criticized BeOS immature and unstable with fierce words.Then he praised the NeXT operating system with inspiring words. Immediately afterwards, Jobs changed the subject: "If you think NeXT can help Apple, then I personally can accept any form of agreement. Whether it is a software license or a transfer of the entire company, no matter what form I am fine with." Jobs, who came prepared, seized the key at the beginning of the negotiation.Microsoft was out early because of too many additional conditions and technical difficulties, and Be was in dispute with Apple because of the price issue.At this time, Jobs directly offered the best conditions, which could not but make Amelio tempted. Think about it too, NeXT has repeatedly failed and fought, and it is about to close its doors. Apple's invitation is like a life-saving straw.Jobs must fight to the death, and perhaps only his three-inch tongue can save NeXT. Tuesday, December 10.BeOS and NeXT face off at the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto.Jobs and his NeXT team first introduced NeXTSTEP to Apple executives, and then Cassie introduced his BeOS. As soon as he came up, Jobs emphasized to everyone that NeXT is a future-oriented operating system, and his speech conquered the audience.Immediately afterwards, Avi Tevanian demonstrated the power of NeXTSTEP on a portable computer, and the real machine demonstration greatly deepened the audience's impression of NeXT. Maybe Cassie thought he had the chance to win and didn't prepare carefully for this demonstration.Not only did Cassie come alone, but there were no slides, no product brochures, and no computers for presentations.His speeches were also dull and devoid of focus. Almost everyone voted for Jobs and his NeXT. A few days later, Jobs gave another presentation to Apple's board of directors.Before the presentation, Jobs met Markkula, who had driven him out of Apple 12 years ago, in the hallway.Markkula looked embarrassed, and the two simply shook hands without saying anything more. The agreement was reached quickly. On December 20, Apple acquired NeXT for US$429 million. The acquisition targets included both the NeXT operating system and the NeXT R&D team. Jobs himself returned to Apple because of this acquisition. Regarding Jobs' status after his return, Amelio asked him: "Do you want to come back and lead the engineering team?" "No." Jobs said firmly. "So, do you want to be an advisor to Apple?" "No." "However, since you have returned to Apple, I have to explain to the board of directors about your position arrangement." Jobs thought for a long time, and finally let go: "Well, if you insist on explaining to the board of directors, it's better to say that I can come back and be an advisor to the chairman of the board of directors." All went well, and Amelio breathed a sigh of relief.Unlike Markkula, he and Jobs hadn't had a big feud before. Jobs returned to Apple as a consultant to help him integrate NeXT and Apple as soon as possible. This plan looks good.However, Amelio still has a hidden worry in his heart. He can't figure out what the return of the Apple founder will mean to his future in Apple.