The Secrets of Pink, Taligent and Copland (and OpenStep)
DanielEran
http://216.69.156.244/RD/Q4.06/36A61A87-064B-470D-8870-736DD59CEF48.html
"NeXT's futuristic technology, developed using the millions invested
by Steve Jobs and Ross Perot, was now free for anyone to use as an
alternative to closed and proprietary development.
For the first time ever, it appeared that the entire industry could
align behind an open software platform, rather than working against
each other on their own isolationist, proprietary developments.
The timing was perfect: Apple's Macintosh was in decline, Microsoft
Windows NT wasn't ready, IBM's OS/2 was headed nowhere, and
Taligent had given up on its own new operating system. Sun and HP were
already on board with NeXT on OpenStep development."
Platform Crisis: The Tentacles of Legacy
http://216.69.156.244/RD/Q4.06/9F19EF9B-9AA5-424A-9EF9-F15C8256B4AC.html
"After realizing the benefits of simplicity and forward technical
momentum, Apple stepped up its efforts to clean up its legacy hardware.
After buying NeXT, the newly focused Apple began work on a clean new
hardware design for the Mac, referred to as the NewWorld Architecture.
Introduced with the iMac in 1998, the new design dropped remnants of
the past and adopted ideas from CHRP, including a clean and complete
implementation of OpenFirmware. Apple scuttled the old Mac serial
connectors and ADB keyboard ports and standardized on Intel's new
USB.
A year later, Microsoft's approach to PC legacy was a new coat of
paint. It devised a color code for Centronics parallel ports, serial
ports, analog joystick ports, and PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, so
users could match cables to the old legacy ports with less confusion."