NeXT Computer

<h2 id="launch">Launch</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/NeXT_Introduction/y3jXGv35">NeXT Introduction</a>
The NeXT Computer was launched in October 1988 at a lavish invitation-only event, "<a href="/facts/NeXT_Introduction/y3jXGv35">NeXT Introduction</a> – the Introduction to the NeXT Generation of Computers for Education" at the <a href="/facts/Louise_M._Davies_Symphony_Hall/xeQVQxLt">Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall</a> in <a href="/facts/San_Francisco/cb9l7hbC">San Francisco</a>, California. The next day, selected educators and software developers were invited to attend—for a $100 registration fee—the first public technical overview of the NeXT computer at an event called "The NeXT Day" at the San Francisco Hilton. It gave those interested in developing NeXT software an insight into the system's software architecture and <a href="/facts/Object-oriented_programming/TxNMEcao">object-oriented programming</a>. <a href="/facts/Steve_Jobs/fQpja1hx">Steve Jobs</a> was the luncheon's speaker.

<h2 id="reception">Reception</h2>

In 1989, <a href="/facts/Byte_(magazine)/xWovF95Q">BYTE</a> magazine listed the NeXT Computer among the "Excellence" winners of the BYTE Awards, stating that it showed "what can be done when a personal computer is designed as a system, and not a collection of hardware elements". Citing as "truly innovative" the optical drive, DSP and object-oriented programming environment, it concluded that "the NeXT Computer is worth every penny of its $6,500 market price".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> The <a href="/facts/Workstation/h5tK4hTt">workstation</a> was not a significant commercial success, failing to reach the high-volume sales of the <a href="/facts/Apple_II/se82CNvK">Apple II</a>, <a href="/facts/Commodore_64/3TPcKDbb">Commodore 64</a>, <a href="/facts/Mac_(computer)/8GhnXTK0">Mac</a>, or <a href="/facts/IBM_PC_compatible/zGUpl7Sh">IBM PC compatibles</a>. This was mainly blamed on the computer's substantial price, and the fact that there was not a great demand for the system outside of the higher-education market. Next Computers were mainly sold to universities, financial institutions, and government agencies.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

<h2 id="legacy">Legacy</h2>

A NeXT Computer and its <a href="/facts/Object-oriented/TxNMEcao">object-oriented</a> development tools and libraries were used by <a href="/facts/Tim_Berners-Lee/JRv21mt9">Tim Berners-Lee</a> and <a href="/facts/Robert_Cailliau/5koB1vpY">Robert Cailliau</a> at <a href="/facts/CERN/y1gwRchm">CERN</a> to develop the world's first <a href="/facts/Web_server/A4GS6thA">web server</a> (<a href="/facts/CERN_httpd/Xz6L0atR">CERN httpd</a>) and <a href="/facts/Web_browser/2pfyymLs">web browser</a> (<a href="/facts/WorldWideWeb/FlgLKla7">WorldWideWeb</a>).
The NeXT platform was used by Jesse Tayler at Paget Press to develop the first electronic <a href="/facts/App_store/czIkzyv9">app store</a>, called the Electronic AppWrapper, in the early 1990s. Issue #3 was first demonstrated to <a href="/facts/Steve_Jobs/fQpja1hx">Steve Jobs</a> at NeXTWorld Expo 1993.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>
Pioneering PC games <a href="/facts/Doom_(1993_video_game)/KA6n0GoY">Doom</a>, <a href="/facts/Doom_II/7CIAg82v">Doom II</a>, and <a href="/facts/Quake_(video_game)/M5YkzHvT">Quake</a> (with respective level editors) were <a href="/facts/Development_of_Doom/8lW9o63q">developed</a> by <a href="/facts/Id_Software/NsbHCMsV">id Software</a> on NeXT machines. <a href="/facts/Doom_engine/DUIUWqbn">Doom engine</a> games such as <a href="/facts/Heretic_(video_game)/mtNQxc8Y">Heretic</a>, <a href="/facts/Hexen%3a_Beyond_Heretic/5lfhwTgs">Hexen</a>, and <a href="/facts/Strife_(1996_video_game)/6eVoLyjE">Strife</a> were also developed on NeXT hardware using id's tools.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a>
NeXT technology provisioned the first online food delivery system called CyberSlice, using GIS based geolocation, on which Steve Jobs performed the first online order of pizza with tomato and basil. CyberSlice was curated into the Inventions of the 20th Century, Computer Science<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> at the <a href="/facts/Smithsonian_Institution/pqC74ta9">Smithsonian Institution</a> in Washington, D.C.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Previous_(software)/TG8RDE5U">Previous</a>, emulator of NeXT hardware</li>
<li><a href="/facts/NeXTstation/yhKpgEeR">NeXTstation</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/NeXTcube/qJEB01jb">NeXTcube</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/NeXTcube_Turbo/lE6tLCCB">NeXTcube Turbo</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/NeXT_character_set/zTtN19Wr">NeXT character set</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Power_Mac_G4_Cube/IJpLgeUK">Power Mac G4 Cube</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NeXT.

<ul><li>Byte Magazine, November 1988: The NeXT Computer <a href="https://archive.org/details/byte-1988-11-next">Facsimile</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/byte-1988-11-next">Full text</a></li>
<li><a href="https://simson.net/ref/NeXT/index.html">Simson Garfinkel's NeXT pages</a> including <a href="http://simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/">NeXTWorld Magazine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/index.html">The Best of NeXT Collection</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/brochure_index.htm">NeXT Computer brochure (page 7 contains a full size image of the circuit board)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=277">old-computers.com — NeXTcube</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.johnmiranda.com/next.htm">Photos of black hardware</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">"NeXT Computer | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-02. <a href="https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer" target="_blank">https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"NeXT Computer | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-02. <a href="https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer" target="_blank">https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"NeXT Computer | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-02. <a href="https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer" target="_blank">https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"The BYTE Awards". BYTE. January 1989. p. 327. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets#page/n371/mode/2up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets#page/n371/mode/2up</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"NeXT Computer | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-02. <a href="https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer" target="_blank">https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8094437/next-computer-personal-computer</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Rob Blessin (2024-05-19). Electronic App Wrapper Sept 93 NeXT CD 1st App Store Jesse Tayler, Yes Black Holes Exist Rob Blessin. Retrieved 2025-04-22 – via YouTube. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndZnF555USI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndZnF555USI</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"Apple-NeXT Merger Birthday!". Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070305165006/http://rome.ro/2006/12/apple-next-merger-birthday.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070305165006/http://rome.ro/2006/12/apple-next-merger-birthday.html</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"CyberSlice, Incorporated". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2021-03-25. Retrieved 2019-06-21. <a href="http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=Cyberslice" target="_blank">http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=Cyberslice</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"AppStorey talks with Steve Green about Steve Jobs, The Smithsonian and how a pizza with basil became the first food delivered via the web". AppStorey. June 6, 2019. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019. <a href="https://appstorey.com/2019/06/06/appstorey-talks-with-steve-green/" target="_blank">https://appstorey.com/2019/06/06/appstorey-talks-with-steve-green/</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">PMQ Pizza Magazine (June 3, 2019), How Steve Jobs Made Pizza History, archived from the original on 2021-12-11, retrieved June 7, 2019 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxR6I-KRAug" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxR6I-KRAug</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

NeXT Computer open-in-new

NeXT Computer