Editing NeXT (section)

===1993–1996: NeXT Software, Inc.===
[[File:NeXTSTEP desktop.png|thumb|The [[NeXTSTEP]] [[operating system]] interface|alt=The NeXTSTEP operating system interface, running a series of commands]]
In late 1991, in preparation for NeXT's future withdrawal from the hardware industry, the company started [[porting]] the NeXTSTEP operating system to [[Intel 80486]]-based [[IBM PC compatible]] computers. In January 1992, it was demonstrated at NeXTWorld Expo. By mid-1993, the process was completed, and version 3.1 (NeXTSTEP 486) was released.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Next Computer Close To a Deal With Chrysler | date=September 8, 1992 | work=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>

NeXTSTEP 3.x was later ported to [[PA-RISC]]-<ref name="RISC">{{Cite news | last =Sherman | first =Lee | title =First NeXT RISC Workstation | work =NeXTWORLD | year =2004 | url =http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/94.4/94.4.Apr.PA-RISC1.html | access-date =April 14, 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080613180500/http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/94.4/94.4.Apr.PA-RISC1.html | archive-date =June 13, 2008 | url-status =live }}</ref><ref name="nextworld199404_risc">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.4No.4April1994/page/n19/mode/2up | title=First NeXT RISC Workstation | magazine=NeXTWORLD | last1=Sherman | first1=Lee | date=April 1994 | access-date=May 12, 2024 | pages=16–18 }}</ref> and [[SPARC]]-based platforms, for a total of four versions: NeXTSTEP/NeXT (for NeXT's own hardware), NeXTSTEP/Intel, NeXTSTEP/PA-RISC, and NeXTSTEP/SPARC. Although the latter three ports were not widely used, NeXTSTEP gained popularity at institutions such as [[Bank One Corporation|First Chicago NBD]], [[Swiss Bank Corporation]], O'Connor and Company, due to its sophisticated 
programming model.<ref>{{Cite news|title=NeXTSTEP: NeXT announces new release of NeXTSTEP & NeXTSTEP Developer. (NeXTSTEP 3.2 and NeXTSTEP Developer 3.2)|date=October 25, 1993|work=EDGE: Work-Group Computing Report|page=40}}</ref> The software was used by many U.S. government agencies, including the [[United States Naval Research Laboratory]], the [[National Security Agency]], the [[DARPA|Advanced Research Projects Agency]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and the [[National Reconnaissance Office]].<ref>{{Cite news
| last = McCarthy
| first =Shawn P.
| title = Next's OS finally is maturing. (NextStep Unix operating system)
| work = Government Computer News
| page = 46
| date = March 6, 1995}}</ref> Some IBM PC clone vendors offered somewhat customized hardware solutions that were delivered running NeXTSTEP on Intel, such as the Elonex NextStation<ref name="Elonex PCW">{{Cite news|title=Elonex NextStation|last=Beard|first=Mat|date=June 1994|work=Personal Computer World}}</ref> and the Canon object.station 41.<ref name="Canon object.station PCW">{{Cite magazine | last=Bidmead | first=Chris | title=NeXT, please | magazine=Personal Computer World |date=February 1995 }}</ref>

In 1993, NeXT withdrew from the [[Orphaned technology|hardware]] industry, and the company was renamed to NeXT Software, Inc. Consequently, 230 of the 530 staff employees were laid off.<ref name="TE">{{Cite news|last=Fisher|first=Lawrence M|date=February 10, 1993|title=Next to Sell Hardware Side And Focus on Its Software|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/10/business/next-to-sell-hardware-side-and-focus-on-its-software.html|url-status=live|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 14, 2021|archive-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214041700/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/10/business/next-to-sell-hardware-side-and-focus-on-its-software.html}}</ref> NeXT negotiated to sell its hardware business, including the Fremont factory, to Canon, which later canceled the deal. Work on the PowerPC machines was stopped, along with all hardware production. Sun CEO [[Scott McNealy]] announced plans to invest $10 million in 1993 and use NeXT software in future Sun systems.<ref>{{Cite news | title=Sun invests in Next, which will license NextStep OS for Sparc. | work=InfoWorld | date=November 29, 1993 | publisher=[[InfoTrac|General Reference Center Gold]]}}</ref> NeXT partnered with Sun to create a [[API|programming environment]] called OpenStep, which is NeXTSTEP's application layer decoupled for third party operating systems.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/nextworld-1994|title=NeXTWORLD 1994|date=1994}}</ref> In 1994, Microsoft and NeXT collaborated on a port of OpenStep to Windows NT, which was never released.<ref name="PM" />

In January 1994, a developers' conference was held in Washington, D.C. Attendees of the 1994 NeXT East Coast Developer Conference had the opportunity to purchase a software bundle including NEXTSTEP 3.2.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/nextworld-1994 | magazine=NeXTWORLD | page=20 | title=NeXTWORLD 1994 | year=1994 }}</ref>

Stepstone, originally named Productivity Products International (PPI), was a software company founded in 1983 by [[Brad Cox]] and Tom Love, best known for releasing the original version of the [[Objective-C]] programming language. In April 1995, NeXT acquired the Objective-C trademark and rights from Stepstone.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cox |first1=Brad J. |last2=Naroff |first2=Steve |last3=Hsu |first3=Hansen |date=June 12, 2020 |title=The origins of Objective-C at PPI/Stepstone and its evolution at NeXT |journal=Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages |volume=4 |issue=HOPL |pages=82:1–82:74 |doi=10.1145/3386332|s2cid=218518131 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Stepstone concurrently licensed back from NeXT the right to continue selling its Objective-C based products. [[Apple Computer]] later acquired the rights to Objective-C along with NeXT. 

After exiting the hardware business, NeXT focused on other operating systems. New OpenStep products were released, including OpenStep Enterprise for [[Windows NT]]. NeXT launched [[WebObjects]], a platform for building large-scale dynamic web applications. It did not achieve wide popularity, partly because of the initial high price of {{US$|50000|1995|round=-2|long=no}}, but it did generate profit for the company. WebObjects is the first and most prominent early example of a web application server that enabled dynamic page generation based on user interactions instead of static web content.<ref name=birthdaywo>{{Cite web |work=MacObserver |url=http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/03/28.14.shtml |title=Happy Birthday: WebObjects at 10 |access-date=June 13, 2008 |last=Stewart |first=Graham |year=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620231311/http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/03/28.14.shtml |archive-date=June 20, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> WebObjects was used by many large businesses including [[Dell]], [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], [[Deutsche Bank]], the [[BBC]],<ref name="webobjects">{{Cite magazine | date=June 16, 2005 | first=Johnny | last=Evans | title=Apple releases WebObjects as a free application | magazine=Macworld | url=http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11860 | access-date=April 14, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612210214/http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=11860 | archive-date=June 12, 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]], [[Nissan]],<ref name=birthdaywo/> and later Apple for the [[iTunes Store]] and [[Apple Store#Online store|online Apple Store]].<ref>{{Cite web | date=June 2, 2003 | last=Dalrymple | first=Jim | title=Xserves power iTunes Music Store, 'America 24/7' | url=https://www.macworld.com/article/1024637/xserve.html | work=[[Macworld]] | access-date=October 18, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019003410/https://www.macworld.com/article/1024637/xserve.html | archive-date=October 19, 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bazoge |first1=Mickaël |title=Cette fois, c'est officiel : Apple a bel et bien abandonné WebObjects |url=https://www.macg.co/logiciels/2016/05/cette-fois-cest-officiel-apple-bel-et-bien-abandonne-webobjects-94043 |website=MacGeneration |access-date=June 5, 2023 |language=fr |date=May 5, 2016}}</ref>