Editing NeXT (section)

{{good article}}
{{Short description|American technology company (1985–1997)}}
{{About|the technology company||Next (disambiguation){{!}}Next}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox company
| name = NeXT, Inc.
| logo = NeXT logo.svg
| logo_upright = 0.5
| logo_caption = Logo designed by [[Paul Rand]]
| image = 900 Chesapeake Drive.jpg
| image_caption = [[Redwood City, California|Redwood City]] headquarters at 900 Chesapeake Drive, July 2022
| logo_alt = NeXT's logo is a 28° black cube with the letters of "NeXT" engraved in the front.
| type = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| industry = {{Plainlist|
* [[Computer hardware]]
* [[Software]]
}}<!-- types of products or services offered -->
| fate = Merged into [[Apple Computer, Inc.]]
| successor = Apple Inc.
| founded = {{Start date and age|1985}}
| founder = [[Steve Jobs]]
| defunct = {{End date and age|1997}}
| hq_location_city = [[Redwood City, California]]
| hq_location_country = U.S.
| key_people = {{Plainlist|
* [[Steve Jobs]] ([[chairman]], [[Chief executive officer|CEO]])
* [[Ross Perot]] (director)
* [[John Patrick Crecine]] (director)
* [[Avie Tevanian]] ([[vice-president]] of engineering)
* [[Bud Tribble]] ([[vice-president]] of software development)
}}
| products = {{Collapsible list
|1= [[NeXT Computer]]
|2= [[NeXTcube]]
|3= [[NeXTstation]]
|4= [[NeXTdimension]]
|5= [[NeXTSTEP]]
|6= [[NeXTMail]]
|7= [[NeXT RISC Workstation]]
|8= [[NeXT Laser Printer]]
|9= [[NeXT MegaPixel Display]]
|10= [[NeXT Music Kit]]
|11= [[NeXTcube Turbo]]
|12= [[WriteNow|NeXT port]]
|13= [[OpenStep]]
|14= [[WebObjects]]
}}<!-- some of company's notable products -->
| num_employees = 530<!-- peak number of employees-->
| num_employees_year = 1993
| website = {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970412194822/http://www.next.com/ | title=next.com}}
}}

'''NeXT, Inc.''' (later '''NeXT Computer, Inc.''' and '''NeXT Software, Inc.''') was an American technology company headquartered in [[Redwood City, California]] that specialized in computer [[workstation]]s for [[higher education]] and business markets, and later developed web software. It was founded in 1985 by CEO [[Steve Jobs]], the [[Apple Computer]] co-founder who had been forcibly removed from Apple that year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cultofmac.com/482888/tiah-steve-jobs-boardroom-coup/ | title=Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs attempts a boardroom coup | date=May 23, 2023 |author-first1=Luke|author-last1=Dormehl|website=Cult of Mac}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-fire-company/story?id=14683754 | title=When Steve Jobs Got Fired by Apple | website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] }}</ref> NeXT debuted with the [[NeXT Computer]] in 1988, and released the [[NeXTcube]] and smaller [[NeXTstation]] in 1990. The series had relatively limited sales, with only about 50,000 total units shipped. Nevertheless, the [[object-oriented programming]] and [[graphical user interface]] were highly influential trendsetters of computer innovation.

NeXT partnered with [[Sun Microsystems]] to create a [[API|programming environment]] called [[OpenStep]], which decoupled the [[NeXTSTEP]] operating system's application layer to host it on third-party operating systems. In 1993, NeXT withdrew from the hardware industry to concentrate on marketing [[OpenStep#OPENSTEP for Mach|OPENSTEP for Mach]], its own OpenStep implementation for several other computer vendors. NeXT developed [[WebObjects]], one of the first enterprise [[web framework]]s, and although its market appeal was limited by its high price of {{US$|50000|1995|round=-3}}, it is a prominent early example of [[dynamic web page]]s rather than [[static content]].

Apple merged with NeXT in 1997 as part of a $427 million deal, including 1.5 million shares of Apple stock. The deal appointed Steve Jobs, then the chairman and CEO of NeXT, to an advisory role at Apple; and OPENSTEP for Mach was combined with the [[classic Mac OS]], to create [[Rhapsody (operating system)|Rhapsody]] and [[Mac OS X]].

Many successful applications have lineage from NeXT, including the [[WorldWideWeb|first web browser]] and the video games ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'' and ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]''.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 31, 2010 |title=GameTales: Cray 6400 |url=https://rome.ro/news/2015/12/13/gametales-cray-ymp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527154647/https://rome.ro/news/2015/12/13/gametales-cray-ymp |archive-date=May 27, 2016}}</ref>