Geoffrey Cain’s forthcoming book argues NeXT Computer (1985-1997) was the crucible where Jobs learned discipline, and its object-oriented software stack became the literal foundation of modern macOS.
Key Takeaways
NeXT pioneered object-oriented programming for mainstream apps in 1988 and hosted the first app store, years before those concepts became industry defaults.
Jobs repeatedly bet wrong on hardware at both NeXT and Pixar; both turnarounds came only after closing hardware divisions and refocusing on software.
The macOS and iOS lineage traces directly to NeXT’s OS, making every Apple device today a descendant of the “forgotten” company.
Cain frames Jobs’s maturation at NeXT as the real origin of Apple’s 2001-2008 renaissance, not innate genius.
Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus inherits a maintenance mandate, not a moonshot: Apple is drifting toward a hardware identity while ceding AI software ground to OpenAI and Google.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters push back on the “forgotten” framing: NeXT’s influence on macOS and its role in 1990s high-end graphics and 3D animation is well-documented among developers and designers.
There is mild nostalgia for a counterfactual where NeXT and classic Mac OS coexisted rather than merged, suggesting the two platforms had distinct UX merits worth preserving.
