4 ms·

The price drop was after the merger, in fact. They started bundling it with Server for free some time after that too, but I think the sun had mostly set by then

The price drop was after the merger, in fact. They started bundling it with Server for free some time after that too, but I think the sun had mostly set by then already if I'm not mistaken.

cmrdporcupine 10y ago
The price drop was quite significantly after the merger. I am not sure of the timeline but it probably wasn't until 2000 or so. And by that time J2EE had taken the market it would have had.
- protomyth 10y ago
  I guess it was $699 http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/05/15Apple-Drops-WebObjects-License-Price-From-50-000.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/05/15Apple-Drops-WebObj... and they timed it with the 5.0 Java conversion. My main problem was when Apple bought NeXT we really were left in the lurch and support was just impossible to get. Plus, canceling NeXTSTEP / OpenStep long before OS X was ready was not a fun thing. I often wonder if Apple had bought Be what NeXT would have become. I'm pretty sure Apple would have gone down in flames.
  - cmrdporcupine 10y ago
    Hard to say. But likely NeXT would have gone down in flames continuing with pursuit of the 'enterprise' path it was on. Probably Sun would have bought their assets, for far less than what Apple paid. Apple, well, they were in an awkward extended transition from 68k to PowerPC and from MacOS classic to something new. I actually think they could have made a go of some of the internal OS projects they had, with sufficient discipline, instead of going and buying something new. I'm not convinced that buying NeXTstep put them ahead on anything. It took 5 years to ship OS X, I have to think that in that time I'm sure they could have finished Copeland and shipped it, too? I personally don't fully actually believe the line that buying NeXT saved them. What saved them was Jobs & crew pared down the product line, laying off a crapload of staff, switching to Dell-style just-in-time delivery, and rolling out the coloured iMacs (which was a big success). Hard to say how much of that was Jobs/Ives or whether Apple without Jobs could have done the same? Jobs killed some good stuff from the old Apple. Newton, Copeland, OpenDoc, for example.
    - protomyth 10y ago
      I actually think NeXT would have continued. They did make money and Sun was all Java'ed up given their stepping out of the whole OpenStep thing. Plus, Pixar did extremely well, and I don't think Jobs minded running both. Copeland in my mind had no chance of shipping. It just was just another step in the Pink -> Taligent saga. I loved the Newton but it was flawed in direction from the start (even loved NewtonScript and Soups). OpenDoc was not very fun to program, but others probably know better (I was more a visitor in those days, I'm not an Apple fan, I'm a NeXT fan who had to immigrate). I would have bought a Newton-based desktop or laptop from them though. Be would have brought back Jean-Louis Gassée which probably would have been a bad thing.

The price drop was after the merger, in fact. They started bundling it with Server for free some time after that too, but I think the sun had mostly set by then already if I'm not mistaken.

cmrdporcupine 10y ago

The price drop was quite significantly after the merger. I am not sure of the timeline but it probably wasn't until 2000 or so. And by that time J2EE had taken the market it would have had.

protomyth 10y ago
I guess it was $699 http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/05/15Apple-Drops-WebObjects-License-Price-From-50-000.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/05/15Apple-Drops-WebObj... and they timed it with the 5.0 Java conversion. My main problem was when Apple bought NeXT we really were left in the lurch and support was just impossible to get. Plus, canceling NeXTSTEP / OpenStep long before OS X was ready was not a fun thing. I often wonder if Apple had bought Be what NeXT would have become. I'm pretty sure Apple would have gone down in flames.
- cmrdporcupine 10y ago
  Hard to say. But likely NeXT would have gone down in flames continuing with pursuit of the 'enterprise' path it was on. Probably Sun would have bought their assets, for far less than what Apple paid. Apple, well, they were in an awkward extended transition from 68k to PowerPC and from MacOS classic to something new. I actually think they could have made a go of some of the internal OS projects they had, with sufficient discipline, instead of going and buying something new. I'm not convinced that buying NeXTstep put them ahead on anything. It took 5 years to ship OS X, I have to think that in that time I'm sure they could have finished Copeland and shipped it, too? I personally don't fully actually believe the line that buying NeXT saved them. What saved them was Jobs & crew pared down the product line, laying off a crapload of staff, switching to Dell-style just-in-time delivery, and rolling out the coloured iMacs (which was a big success). Hard to say how much of that was Jobs/Ives or whether Apple without Jobs could have done the same? Jobs killed some good stuff from the old Apple. Newton, Copeland, OpenDoc, for example.
  - protomyth 10y ago
    I actually think NeXT would have continued. They did make money and Sun was all Java'ed up given their stepping out of the whole OpenStep thing. Plus, Pixar did extremely well, and I don't think Jobs minded running both. Copeland in my mind had no chance of shipping. It just was just another step in the Pink -> Taligent saga. I loved the Newton but it was flawed in direction from the start (even loved NewtonScript and Soups). OpenDoc was not very fun to program, but others probably know better (I was more a visitor in those days, I'm not an Apple fan, I'm a NeXT fan who had to immigrate). I would have bought a Newton-based desktop or laptop from them though. Be would have brought back Jean-Louis Gassée which probably would have been a bad thing.