NeXTSTEP: the decade-long kernel nerd project that accidentally launched Pixar and the iPhone era
teropa · x · 2026-09-28
An observation on NeXTSTEP's place in computer history: it reads like your nerdiest developers spending a decade on low-level kernel drivers and UI frameworks nobody could sell, making no money for years—yet accidentally hard-launching the computer animation industry along the way.
Then, on the cusp of irrelevance, it came back and led one of history's greatest product-led development cycles. Nobody remembers Steve Jobs as the object-oriented IPC guy, but he was—he personally hired the original designer of the Mach kernel.
More from Fun
- Handwritten assignments in 2026: schools still haven't caught up with AI — sharpeye_wnl · 2026-09-28
- Asked Claude for a small scrape, woke up to 'three weeks remaining' at 60 MB/s — generativist · 2026-09-28
- Anthropic Researcher Coins 'The Hamburger Problem': Almost All Foods Are Hamburger-Negative — AdrienLE · 2026-09-28
- Opus 5.5 dug through 3.7GB of logs to produce a 15-minute documentary of its Unciv match — Angaisb_ · 2026-09-28
- 'Be like Sunil': developer's graceful reply to a hater wins admiration — maxleiter · 2026-09-28
- Blogger claims Opus 5.5 could disrupt the educational video industry — Dr_Singularity · 2026-09-28