Apple needed a new OS, for sure, just like Microsoft needed a new OS after their DOS-based Windows 9x branch. But there were other options than NeXT. They near

Apple needed a new OS, for sure, just like Microsoft needed a new OS after their DOS-based Windows 9x branch. But there were other options than NeXT. They nearly bought Be (and BeOS) instead of NeXT and that might have worked. Also they could have built a new OS on top of BSD without NeXT, that might have worked as well. Of course by buying NeXT they also got Steve Jobs back and that's a big part of what made them successful in the 2000's. And by the way, Apple's rebirth in the 2000's was largely due to the iPod and iTunes more than MacOSX. It didn't really made a dent into XP's market share.