The NeXT computer was the pet project of Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple Computer by the then (1985) CEO John Scully. Although Jobs had been a founder of Apple and had driven the development of its most successful product the Mac he had managed to "get up the nose of every senior manager at Apple" (Barker C. 2000, vnunetcom).

The NeXT was designed for small labs, academics and professionals who had been using larger computing power to solve computational problems but, as Steve Jobs thought, were frustrated by the difficulties involved in access to time share computing power.

Although the NeXT computer was a commercial failure, it is the device on which Tim Berners-Lee developed a system for linking academics across the internet using hypertext - which became known as the world wide web, it runs a Unix operating system (for reliability, open source), it could be networked, it used an object-oriented language for easier (than Mac) programming of the graphical user interface and the body was designed by Hartmut Esslinger.

The NeXT computer offered a very friendly environment in which software developers could design custom applications. The computer proved popular with business and found its way into the telecommunications, banking and healthcare sectors where their ability to manage information and produce new information products was critical to their profitability and competitiveness. Companies also purchased the computer because it was "exquisitely attractive" (Garfinkel & Mahoney 2002, Building Cocoa Apps.).

Apple Computer bought out NeXT Computer Inc. in 1996 and Steve Jobs went back to Apple with it. By this time NeXT had well and truly ceased the business of hardware and was focussed upon its software development and in particular NeXTSTEP. NeXTSTEP was one of the principle reasons behind the acquisition of NeXT by Apple as they were shopping around for a new operating system after failing to produce one in house. The operating system developed for the NeXT computers then evolved over the following years into the Mac OS/X operating system for Apple computers (launched march 2001).

Campbell Bickerstaff, 2003

This NeXT came from a small collection of computers at the Sydney headquarters of the Data General Corporation. Data General had developed this small collection of significant computers with a focus on their own products over the life of the company in Australia. The material was offered to the museum prior to the take-over of Data General by the "Health Gate data Corp." in early 2000.

The NeXT computer was designed by a team, some were ex-Apple employees. The housing for the computer was designed by Hartmut Esslinger (and Frogdesign).

The NeXT computer was manufactured in North America. The company had built a facility capable of producing 150,000 units per annum however over the period 1988 - 1993 (when production ceased) approximately 50,000 machines came off that line.

The NeXT computer was used by academics, engineers, scientists, real estate sales people, small and big bussiness.

This computer was donated by Data General. It may have been used in the development of software for Data General applications including database and server applications.

The NeXT computer was purchased by Data General when new and remained in their ownership until it was offered to the museum in April 2000.

Computer, NeXT workstation, peripherals and monitor, metal /plastic /glass /electronic components /paper, designed by Hartmut Esslinger, manufactured by NeXT computers / Sony Corp, USA / Japan, 1990 - 1993

The NeXT computer is housed in a die-cast magnesium cube with a black finish. Connections for all peripherals are on the back. It is model #1000A, designed, engineered and assembled in USA, 1990. Turbo 32MB, 1.4GB disk FDD, NeXTSTEP version 3.0, NeXT dimension board NTSC / 16MB.
The black monitor is a Megapixel 17 inch color flat square display, model #N4006 manufactured by Sony, Japan, 1992.
NeXT black keyboard.
NeXT black mouse.
NeXT Sound Box, speaker.
NeXT black color printer.
NeXT black CDROM drive.
Thin Ethernet Connector Kit in original box with - booklet, cable on reel, 2 x connectors and 1 x 50 Ohm socket.
Cables for the NeXT system include - 2 x power (cube and printer), 1 for cube to monitor, 1 for keyboard to cube, 1 for Sound Box to cube, 1 for CDROM to cube, 1 for printer to cube and 1 x Asynchronous modem cable still in original packaging. There is also 1 x ASTFX adapter.
NeXT documents include - NeXTSTEP 3.0 install CD and Software Licence Agreement in original wrapping + addendum to Software Licence Agreement, Upgrade to NeXTSTEP release 3.0, Release notes, Users Guide, External CDROM drive, Owners Guide, Here's How, NeXT limited warranty, User registration, NeXTworld promotional flyer, Objectware, Software and Peripheral Catalog and The NeXTSTEP Advantage.

Made: 1990 - 1993

2003/41/1

1990 - 1993

320 mm

305 mm

305 mm