Next Mac OS to Be Based on NeXTstep
by Clifford Colby with Stephen Howard & Kelly Ryer
from the February 1997 issue of Australian MacUser magazine
On 20 December 1996 Apple announced it was buying NeXT Software for $US400 million and would use NeXTstep - NeXT’s Unix-based operating system - as the underpinnings of its future operating system. The announcement ends all speculation that Apple might acquire Be for the same purpose.
According to Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technical officer, the company is committed to releasing a beta version of the next-generation OS to select user sites and developers by the end of 1997. Hancock said the initial release will not include compatibility with System 7 applications, but she stressed that the new OS will run those applications when it ships to customers in 1998.
According to Avadis Tevanian, former vice president of technology at NeXT and new head of next-generation OS efforts at Apple, System 7 compatibility will increase through 1998. Tevanian said Apple is investigating several ways of running System 7 software in the new OS. One is through the Macintosh Application Environment (MAE), Apple software that runs Mac applications on top of Unix. A second method is through code developed for Mac OS 8, Apple’s previous effort at a new OS, code-named Copland.
As for hardware compatibility, Apple said the new OS will run on currently shipping PowerPC systems.
Tevanian said preliminary work on moving the OS to the PowerPC chip was done several years ago when NeXT built a workstation using dual 601 processors. NeXT ported its software to that PowerPC hardware but never shipped. Although Apple said the new OS will eventually run on upcoming PowerPC Platform m achines, the prospects for moving the OS to 680x0 Macs were cloudy.
The merger does not signal the end of System 7, however. Apple said it intends to pursue a dual-development strategy that will produce the new OS and provide System 7 users with periodic updates through 1998 at least.
Apple expects to ship Mac OS 7.6 (code-named Harmony) by the end of January.
The update will include many of the latest system technologies, including OpenDoc.
After that, the next major System 7 revision, code-named Tempo, is due in July.
It will include Copland’s multithreaded and entirely native Finder, interface enhancements, and tighter Internet integration, Apple said.
With the NeXT deal Apple gets NeXTstep, an object-oriented operating system based on the Mach kernel.
Apple also acquires OpenStep, a version of NeXTstep for other operating s ys tems; WebObjects, NeXT’s tools for Internet development; and Interface Builder, a development environment.
Steve Jobs - Apple co-founder, NeXT CEO, and Pixar mainplayer - also comes with the purchase, but both companies said his position at Applewill be that of part-time marketing and technical adviser.