4 ms·

> Looks really dated (and I can remember thinking that when it was out!). NeXTSTEP (v0.8) was "out" in 1989. It looked like this: http://toastytech.com/guis/

> Looks really dated (and I can remember thinking that when it was out!). NeXTSTEP (v0.8) was "out" in 1989. It looked like this: http://toastytech.com/guis/ns08.html http://toastytech.com/guis/ns08.html Whereas Windows in 1989 looked like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2.1x https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2.1x And Mac OS looked like this: https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/System_6.0.4 https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/System_6.0.4 I think you might be misremembering.

martinald 5y ago
I don't mean "out" as in first release date, I mean "out" as in it was currently being updated at the time. You're right on Win2.x and System6, but later versions of Win & Mac both looked better to me.
- SeanLuke 5y ago
  Well, let's look at that. The very last version of NeXTSTEP was 4.x, and was released in 1996 near the end of NeXT's life. It was basically identical in looks to 3.x. Here are some screenshots of 3.x: https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/a4664c85-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/b0518bd6-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/bb5ab60f-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... Some shots of NeXTSTEP 4.2. https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/openstep42 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/openstep42 Windows was of course presently on Windows 95. Interestingly, both Windows 95 and OS/2 had largely copied NeXTSTEP design elements, including its famous "3D" look and feel, but even little things, like the popup corner menu, practically identical close and minimize (er, maximize) icons, etc., but with a much worse graphics subsystem, and terrible fonts and icons compared to NeXT. https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95 MacOS was not quite on version 8 yet but let's round it up. It too had copied design elements from NeXTSTEP, and likewise had a much cruder graphics subsystem with terrible fonts and icons in comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_8 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course. Windows and MacOS had caught up somewhat by then. But I think it's pretty incredible to seriously say that Windows or MacOS were ever better looking (or functioning) than NeXTSTEP, at least up until NeXT was bought by Apple and NeXTSTEP ceased to exist as a product. Heck, neither 95 nor MacOS 8 even had live window dragging, something NeXTSTEP had in 1989.

martinald 5y ago

I don't mean "out" as in first release date, I mean "out" as in it was currently being updated at the time. You're right on Win2.x and System6, but later versions of Win & Mac both looked better to me.

SeanLuke 5y ago
Well, let's look at that. The very last version of NeXTSTEP was 4.x, and was released in 1996 near the end of NeXT's life. It was basically identical in looks to 3.x. Here are some screenshots of 3.x: https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/a4664c85-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/b0518bd6-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3a4e284a2ef/bb5ab60f-5c98-11e9-9db4-fa163e9022f0 https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... Some shots of NeXTSTEP 4.2. https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/openstep42 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/openstep42 Windows was of course presently on Windows 95. Interestingly, both Windows 95 and OS/2 had largely copied NeXTSTEP design elements, including its famous "3D" look and feel, but even little things, like the popup corner menu, practically identical close and minimize (er, maximize) icons, etc., but with a much worse graphics subsystem, and terrible fonts and icons compared to NeXT. https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95 https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95 MacOS was not quite on version 8 yet but let's round it up. It too had copied design elements from NeXTSTEP, and likewise had a much cruder graphics subsystem with terrible fonts and icons in comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_8 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course. Windows and MacOS had caught up somewhat by then. But I think it's pretty incredible to seriously say that Windows or MacOS were ever better looking (or functioning) than NeXTSTEP, at least up until NeXT was bought by Apple and NeXTSTEP ceased to exist as a product. Heck, neither 95 nor MacOS 8 even had live window dragging, something NeXTSTEP had in 1989.