Chapter 29 In the sixth quarter, defeat is also great

It is not an exaggeration to say that NeXT is Jobs' Waterloo.If it hadn't been acquired by Apple, Jobs would have lost everything at NeXT.But failing is not exactly the same as failure.Some failures are lighter than a feather, while others are heavier than Mount Tai. Although NeXT failed, the legacy NeXT left to Apple and the computer industry is inestimable. NeXT's first important legacy to the world is NeXT's operating system.This is of course thanks to operating system development guru Avi Tevanian. Despite the poor sales performance, NeXTSTEP is still enough to occupy a milestone position in the history of operating system development.The powerful Mach kernel enables NeXTSTEP to have extraordinary performance and the stability similar to UNIX system.The elegantly designed OpenStep interface standard makes the interaction between the operating system and applications clearer and more concise.More importantly, the NeXTSTEP operating system creatively combines the object-oriented development method with the application development interface of the operating system, which greatly reduces the difficulty of software development and maintenance.

The object-oriented feature is the highlight highly praised by Jobs. He said: "When I visited Xerox in 1979 and saw the graphical user interface, in just 10 minutes, I knew clearly that every machine in the world Computers are supposed to work like this. You can question how long this change will take. You can also question who will win and who will lose in the process. But no one can deny that all the computers in the world will eventually will work under a GUI. The same goes for object-oriented technology. Once you understand object-oriented technology, you will know that all software in the world will eventually be developed using object-oriented technology. You can question how many years this process will take , you can question who will win and who will lose, but this shift will happen."

After Jobs returned to Apple, he has been promoting the integration of NeXT operating system and Mac OS, but because of technical difficulties, this work took several years.In the meantime, many new technologies developed by the Copland project were integrated into Mac OS 8, an upgraded version of Mac OS 7, and the subsequent Mac OS 9 is the last version of this series. In 1999, the server version of the new operating system Mac OS X developed based on NeXT technology (the last X means the Roman numeral 10, indicating the successor of Mac OS 9, but in fact it is already a brand new operating system). On March 24, 2001, the desktop version of Mac OS X was officially released.To this day, all the operating systems running on Apple notebooks and desktops are the foundation laid by NeXT. Even the iOS operating system used on iPhones and iPads is the result of NeXT’s inheritance.

Mac OS X and iOS operating systems are designed to seamlessly combine the stability of the NeXT operating system kernel, the convenience of object-oriented development, and the extraordinary user interface inherent in Apple MacOS.After the return of Jobs, the reason why Apple was able to come back from the dead, and after 2007, it was able to sweep thousands of troops in the consumer electronics field with "artifacts" such as the iPhone and iPad. The legacy left by the NeXT operating system can be said to be a great contribution. Incidentally, each version of Mac OS X has a public code name, and it's all a feline name.Even people who don't understand the principles of software will immediately fall in love with Apple's operating system when they see these interesting names.

The second important legacy that NeXT left to the world is Jobs, the boss who returned to Apple after many hardships. 12 years ago, when Mr. Qiao left Apple angrily, he was still a very immature young man in management. In the past 12 years, Joe, who was wandering outside like an Odyssey, experienced too many setbacks and failures.In these 12 years, although his career was not going well, Jobs's personal life has settled down.He finally gave up the bohemian lifestyle of a hippie, married a wife and had children, and had a happy family. No matter how many hardships he has encountered, no matter how his life changes, Jobs' dream of using technology to change the world has never changed. After 12 years, is Joe, who has returned to Apple, mature enough to show his skills in his beloved Apple?Can he create a miracle again and make Apple shock the world again?

This time, Leader Qiao is not fighting alone.NeXT followed Jobs to Apple, as well as his right-hand man - software development master Avi Tevanian and hardware development master Jon Rubinstein, these people are the invaluable treasures that NeXT left to Jobs and Apple . NeXT has grown and failed.Jobs was confused and frustrated.But NeXT is far from over. The people and technology left by NeXT are quietly accumulating and condensing at Apple, waiting for the moment when it will soar into the sky.