#ObamaDidThat.YouDidn’t
Philosophy & Theory
#ObamaDidThat.YouDidn’t — Philosophy & Theory
Apple NEXTSTEP/Power. In 1997. Apple NEXTSTEP/Intel. In 1997.
Kevin A. Sensenig | September 23, 2012 | December 1, 2014
The exact quote, from the White House transcript, July 13, 2012:
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
Archived: Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event in Roanoke, Virginia | The White House.pdf.
#SomeoneElseAllowedYouTo.ObamaAllowedYouTo.WeTePeopleDidn’tWriteTheConstitution
#YouCanRunABusiness.ObamaDidThat.YouDidn't
#InternetIsForSissiesThatMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.ObamaDidThat.YouDidn't
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—Ethernet
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—NeXTmail
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—MC68030
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—DSP
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—DisplayPostscript
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—DigitalLibrarian
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—Improv
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—Objective-C
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—ProjectBuilder_&_InterfaceBuilder
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—WriteNow
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—NSSound
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—NSMovie
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—UNIX(BSD)
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—MultiUserPreemptiveMultitasking
#NeXTDidn’tMakeMoneyOffTheInternet.TheInternetDidn’tExistYet.NeXTHad—LoginPanel
The NeXT operating system was NEXTSTEP, the precursor to Apple Mac OS X. NEXTSTEP was more (IBM) PowerPC. NEXTSTEP never ran on the PowerPC. It initially ran on the Motorola 68030. Motorola, Apple, and IBM later collaborated to develop the PowerPC, from the IBM Power architecture. They later ceded to IBM and the last PowerPC was the PowerPC G5 with AltiVec, in the early 2000s, on Apple hardware. For a while Apple used the PowerPC, in the 1990s, and early 2000s. In the 1990s they didn’t do so well. By 1996 they were losing a lot of money, searched for options, and bought NeXT. Legacy NEXTSTEP was converted into Mac OS X.
Initially, Apple had the NEXTSTEP layer running as the primary operating system, called Yellow Box. They had the Mac OS running as a process within Yellow Box and called that Blue Box. That was too simple —
1. I would have called it Apple NEXTSTEP/Power. With Apple Mac OS the product that runs as a NEXTSTEP process.
2. It would have meant Mac OS supported for 20 years, routine enhancements, developer toolbox intact, user experience intact, apps intact.
3. It would have meant that the Mac OS graphical user interface would have been set within a visually complementary but more advanced visual display. (I would have done some but not all of the modifications done for Mac OS X’s graphical user interface. Primarily the use of borderless windows for images and photographs, and some of the app layout modifications, and the shift to Adobe DisplayPDF. I would have kept the NeXT menu design, and some other features. There are other aspects that are very interesting.)
4. It would have meant that Mac OS users had consistency of product, and that NEXTSTEP apps and technology enhancements could be rolled out in a calm, methodical manner. This would have reassured both the Mac and the NeXT markets.
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5. It would have meant that Mac OS users could turn to NEXTSTEP as needed or more useful.
6. Within NEXTSTEP (always full screen), to run or switch to Mac OS, click an icon. To switch back, select a menu option or press a dedicated key on the keyboard. If Mac OS locks up, press a dedicated key on the keyboard. The Mac OS could run in either full screen or in a NEXTSTEP window.
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7. Apple did retain Objective-C.
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8. Apple did retain the microkernel, I think with enhancements. [ 2014-12-01 note: I have done some review of the runtime performance of the kernel of OS X Maverick on Mac Pro (purchased in 2010) and it seems to process items on a list; it does not have a mathematical system in place for memory paging and application support; it seems to have a clearly insufficient pipe between memory and localdisk (for paging); it does not handle interapplication dynamics intelligently; and the stock factory hard disk that Apple installed OS X to, and then installed in the Mac Pro chassis, and then that Mac Pro that I purchased in default configuration, the Apple stock factory hard disk is 6x slower than a similar hard disk that I purchased and installed a year later, the same generation hard drive technology and type. That is, I purchased from Apple a Mac Pro that Apple manufactured and configured, that has a 6x slower hard disk to which Apple installed OS X, a hard disk that is 6x slower than industry standard. I made my own selection for the second hard disk. I have done metrics with ditto and du on 3 drives: the Apple stock factory default hard disk, the industry standard hard disk that I later purchased and installed in the Mac Pro, and a G Drive Mini connected via USB. The industry standard hard disk is about 6.0x faster than the stock factory Apple hard disk to which Apple installed OS X, and the G Drive Mini is about 5.7x faster than the stock factory default Apple hard disk to which Apple installed OS X, using a script with ‘du -c -h -d 1’, from the UNIX csh within Apple’s application Terminal. I also have a ditto script, and it takes about 178 minutes to run the ditto script from the Apple stock factory hard disk to the second internal industry standard hard disk, and about 146 minutes to run the ditto script from the second internal industry standard hard disk to the external G Drive Mini connected by USB. One might observe that the Apple stock factory hard disk is thus slower than the USB interface; it takes less time to ditto across motherboard/USB (industry standard hard disk performance at both ends) than it does to ditto across the motherboard from the Apple hard disk to the internal second industry standard hard disk. ]
9. It would have taken a year. A year is too short.
10. it would have left the option of NEXTSTEP/Intel (1994), to be reintroduced, solving a problem for the corporate environment, and for those who _did_ want Intel architecture, but _did not_ care about Mac OS.
Also, object oriented programming and methodology is too simple, too direct, to explain up front. As is the depth of the NEXTSTEP API, the clarity of UNIX, and the benefits of a login panel, with your own home directory. And a chiseled graphical user interface running DisplayPostscript.
And, likely to devise a path to Intel architecture later — rather than to figure out the best workable technology, or to solve a long-term problem with both PowerPC and Intel architecture in 1997 — Apple’s actual Yellow Box and Blue Box were factored to a morph of NEXTSTEP/Mac OS API called Carbon (with some apparent benefits — the graphical user interface was able to integrate), the user interface was given a more glossy, rounded feel, and the Apple logo was placed in the upper left corner. With the standard Apple menu type. In 2000, 3 years later, that is, 2 years after 1998, or 1 year after 1999, the operating system was released as Mac OS X 10.0. With Carbon — “Likely with some glue factor, description: toll-free bridge—” — such as NSCFString, as the underlying layer to NSString and the corresponding Mac OS Toolbox type. It took a while to gain much traction, except for (apparently) gradual adoption by the Mac OS customers. Then Apple released the iPod and iTunes, then the iPhone, then the iPad. These were the difference. But also the difference is app integration, and UNIX, and Objective-C (including well-factored APIs). (Application Programming Interface/Software Development Libraries.)
Another app on NEXTSTEP 1990 was Digital Librarian. It was a different idea than iBooks, documentation and books in one integrated app, sort of a combination of Preview and iBooks. Each for reading. Like the paper book, the periodical, the Web, iBook, Kindle, and Nook. All available on the Internet.
So that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
#TheIndividualDoesn’tRead.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tStudy.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyBooksOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyAll-CladCookware.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputer.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToBuyBooksOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToStudyCarOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToStudyCarOnTheInternetToBuyCarNearby.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToStudyCarOnTheInternetToBuyCarNearby.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToStudyCollegeOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToStudyWhatCollegeOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyComputerToFindWhenWhatCableShowOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tBuyAll-CladCookwareOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
#TheIndividualDoesn’tFindLocalDealerOnTheInternet.CompaniesMakeMoneyOffTheInternet
If I recall correctly, Digital Librarian included in its bundle Shakespeare and Webster’s 9th. It was a perfect app, likely, for book and media distribution. The market framework was not set up. Today, it’s iBookstore, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and maybe others.
There were 2 professors at Franklin & Marshall College who suggested projects using a NeXT, in philosophy and astronomy. (I didn’t do either.) I was unable to procure a NeXTcube through the college computer store — they were an Apple client. (This was at the time that Apple had the Mac IIci and SE/30. Both well-designed, capable machines, appropriate for their class.) In 1992 I used a NeXTstation in a Lancaster store to create a couple of business cards. Using Bezier curves, vector graphics. Windows and Mac OS were at the time bitmapped.
Apple could have approached NeXT in 1991. One could see Mac OS running as a process within NEXTSTEP; Apple enhancing the IIci and SE/30 for the following 5 years, until the trajectory became apparent. It was a pretty obvious technology, visual, design, and capability connection to make, upon review. Including laser printing! That would have been simple. I don’t have the NeXT laser printer shown here.
Like NEXTSTEP, Apple Mac OS X also uses Bezier curves! In native PDF. Available to the Objective-C API.
Apple has done some fine work. OS X is reasonably stable. Preview is a great app. Mail is decent enough, well-designed layout. Pages has some nice features. iTunes makes music and movies _available_.
There still is the UNIX shell, Terminal. There still is Objective-C, FoundationKit, and AppKit. Although I wonder where ProjectBuilder and InterfaceBuilder are. (ProjectBuilder and InterfaceBuilder were: well factored software development.)
The following is significant: Apple has released exactly 1 basic operating system for the desktop from 2000 to now. They have refined and enhanced it, and related products.
The following is significant: UNIX was invented in 1970 at AT&T Bell Labs.
The following is significant: Apple Mac OS X is a variant of UNIX. That is, if I understand correctly, the BSD “free software” clone.
The following is significant: IBM, Oracle, Fujitsu, and likely others, retain UNIX as a product. It is my understanding that IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris are variants of the “original” UNIX AT&T System V. Fujitsu supports Oracle Solaris, and Oracle SPARC architecture.
Oracle SPARC. IBM POWER.
IBM retains the Power architecture. IBM.
Oracle retains the SPARC architecture. Oracle.
For Steve Jobs’ “NeXT 1995” perspective, see Video: Steve Jobs one-on-one, the '95 interview - Computerworld.
