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Steve Jobs and the History of Cocoa

Posted by pudge on from the next-week-the-history-of-tea dept.

lopati writes "O'Reilly Network is running the first of a two part series about the intertwined histories of Apple and NeXT, and more specifically NeXTSTEP and the foundations of Cocoa. Nothing really new, but a nice overview of Mac OS X and a quick rundown of how old missteps (no pun intended :) evolved into the present product and company. I thought this was an interesting tidbit: 'But NeXT wasn't just a software company -- Jobs was also obsessed with building hardware. And this proved to be the company's downfall.' Ironic, because this has been Apple's salvation, or portentous, because history is doomed to repeat itself? You be the judge!"

3 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. NeXT Hardware vs Apple Hardware by jd10131 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The greatest problem with NeXT hardware was how proprietary it was. Even the monitor interface was proprietary.

    Compared to NeXT, the current Apple hardware is very standard. (Some people would disagree, but my TiPB has USB, FireWire, VGA, and a PC Card slot) There is also a substantially larger installed base of Apple hardware than there ever was of NeXT hardware.

    I think that more people will be buying computers based on aesthetic style, rather than pure performance. While the currently available processors in Macs are less powerful than their PC cousins, I don't think that the difference is significant enough to matter. (The average user just doesn't need that much power)

    I think the combination of NeXT Generation (apologies for the pun) software with nice looking Apple hardware is the most sexy general purpose computing option. (My PC loving boss is getting tempted by the new iMac even!)

    PS I'll hear nothing about how many buttons the mouse has...that's been done to death!

  2. Hardware Apple's Downfall by hotsauce · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Jobs was also obsessed with building hardware. And this proved to be the company's downfall.' Ironic, because this has been Apple's salvation...

    Or you can argue that if Apple had only made the OS from the begining and never made hardware, they would be ones in the enviable position of being pretend-pursued by the Justice Department.

    --
    Lies about crimes
  3. Simson Garfinkel's new Cocoa Programming Book by tyrione · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If anyone knows much about his original NeXTSTEP Programming Book for NS3.x which of course all the Class calls were NXPort instead of NSPort, for example, will find it amusing how he basically updated the original TELOS published book for Cocoa.

    The Table of Contents is practically identical.

    It reminds me of those Calculus books where you have to buy edition 7 for the class though edition 6 is the same minus new color coding, ease of understanding theorems crap, and a few typos, including incorrect answers!

    Simson's a very sound author and his book NeXSTEP Programming is excellent but it never ceases to amaze me that people get repeated material published at updated prices without expounding upon prior work.

    If O'Reilly would lower the price a bit I'm sure it will sell well, still far behind Hillegass's Cocoa Programming by Addison Wesley- someone whose knowledge of Cocoa/Objective-C/Eiffel, etc and architecturing real-world projects, while working at NeXT, both as a consultant and top trainer makes his work first on my list of buys.

    Now if I could only afford his training I'm sure he'll have some of his famous brownies for all his guests.