Back in the mid-to-late nineties I had the fortune of using both BeOS and NeXTStep. I loved both operating systems and recognised their differing strengths and

Back in the mid-to-late nineties I had the fortune of using both BeOS and NeXTStep. I loved both operating systems and recognised their differing strengths and weaknesses. I must say I was hugely disappointed when Apple chose not to pursue “Plan Be” and opted to purchase NeXT instead. The operating system seemed like overkill and not a good match for Apple’s use-case (single-user machines, media-focussed workflows, with an obvious advantage to be drawn from pre-emptive multitasking and almost real-time multimedia processing). NeXTStep struck me as a much more “workstation-type” OS that would have had little resonance on the consumer and professional market. It turned out I was wrong: Moore’s Law has made the heavyweight NeXTStep an eminently shoulderable burden, and that it is now so “lightweight” in relative standards that its direct descendant (iOS) can comfortably run on (albeit unimaginably powerful) mobile devices. I wrote elsewhere in this thread that with the benefit of hindsight I don’t think Apple’s resurgence could have happened had they had chosen Plan Be.