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The characterization of Rhapsody being "cancelled" and Mac OS X just being MacOS on a Mach Kernel is rather odd. In my recollection, the original Rhapsody plan

The characterization of Rhapsody being "cancelled" and Mac OS X just being MacOS on a Mach Kernel is rather odd. In my recollection, the original Rhapsody plan was essentially Cocoa apps (with a NeXTStep-like look) + the Classic emulator. What the change of plans to Mac OS X did was add "Carbon" to the equation (i.e. native MacOS APIs in the unix environment), and give the whole thing a facelift. From the point of a developer, it could be considered a major departure in that instead of a complete rewrite, apps could also become native with more modest changes. But that does not mean that the Rhapsody path was abolished — far from it.

Lammy 5y ago
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/4B800F78-0F75-455A-9681-F186A4365805.html http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/4B800F78-0F7...
- microtherion 5y ago
  As far as PowerPC hardware is concerned, this is not all that different from my characterization (though I was omitting the Display Postscript to Quartz transition, which was indeed quite significant). I had not paid attention to the cross platform promises of the Rhapsody strategy, so it's possible I was missing just how much of that was publicly promised and then abolished. I was never a NeXTStep developer, but having seen quite a bit of Cocoa code, my impression was that the compatibility hurdle for existing NeXTStep apps to becoming Cocoa apps was smaller than the one for Mac apps to becoming Carbon apps. Maybe developers with actual experience of having done such ports can comment?
  - lunaticlabs 5y ago
    I can concur with this. I am actually the youngest NeRD (NeXTStep Registered Developer) ever. I also programmed Mac applications professionally from just before OS X until after its release. I remember first seeing the API docs for it and being flooded with memories of code from a decade earlier. It was a bit weird. Keep in mind that besides the API, I also already was well versed in Objective C, so it was also not a new programming language. My peers had different experiences.
simonh 5y ago
When Apple talked about this strategy externally they spoke as though it was a new product. That's how they would have pitched it to Microsoft. They wanted everyone to think of it as a modernised Mac OS, not as the NeXT OS with a Classic Mac app emulation layer.

Lammy 5y ago

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/4B800F78-0F75-455A-9681-F186A4365805.html http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/4B800F78-0F7...

microtherion 5y ago
As far as PowerPC hardware is concerned, this is not all that different from my characterization (though I was omitting the Display Postscript to Quartz transition, which was indeed quite significant). I had not paid attention to the cross platform promises of the Rhapsody strategy, so it's possible I was missing just how much of that was publicly promised and then abolished. I was never a NeXTStep developer, but having seen quite a bit of Cocoa code, my impression was that the compatibility hurdle for existing NeXTStep apps to becoming Cocoa apps was smaller than the one for Mac apps to becoming Carbon apps. Maybe developers with actual experience of having done such ports can comment?
- lunaticlabs 5y ago
  I can concur with this. I am actually the youngest NeRD (NeXTStep Registered Developer) ever. I also programmed Mac applications professionally from just before OS X until after its release. I remember first seeing the API docs for it and being flooded with memories of code from a decade earlier. It was a bit weird. Keep in mind that besides the API, I also already was well versed in Objective C, so it was also not a new programming language. My peers had different experiences.

simonh 5y ago

When Apple talked about this strategy externally they spoke as though it was a new product. That's how they would have pitched it to Microsoft. They wanted everyone to think of it as a modernised Mac OS, not as the NeXT OS with a Classic Mac app emulation layer.