Editing NeXT (section)

===1997–2006: Acquisition by Apple===
{{quote box | width=25% | align=right | text=We went for one of our, you know, signature Steve Jobs walks around Palo Alto, and ... we happened to see someone who was in that meeting from the [Apple] management team who said, 'You guys won easily, no problem. You have nothing to worry about.' | source=[[Avie Tevanian]], presenting NeXT versus Be to Apple<ref name="Oral History of Avadis Tevanian, part 2">{{Cite interview | title=Oral History of Avadis Tevanian, part 2 | publisher=Computer History Museum | interviewer=John Markoff | interviewer2=Hansen Hsu | interviewer3=David C. Brock | first=Avie | last=Tevanian | author-link=Avie Tevanian | date=April 17, 2017 | location=Mountain View, CA | url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/07/102740143-05-01-acc.pdf | access-date=February 10, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212190536/https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/07/102740143-05-01-acc.pdf | archive-date=February 12, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>
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On December 20, 1996, Apple Computer announced its intention to acquire NeXT.<ref name="apple-acquisition">{{Cite press release|title=Apple Computer, Inc. Agrees to Acquire NeXT Software Inc.|url=http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q1/961220.pr.rel.next.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020208190346/http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q1/961220.pr.rel.next.html|archive-date=February 8, 2002|publisher=Apple Computer|date=December 20, 1996|access-date=June 13, 2008}}</ref> Apple paid $427 million in cash, shares, stock options, and debt.<ref name="AppleConfidential" />{{Rp|page=277}}<ref>{{cite web |author1=Apple Inc. |title=Apple Inc. audited annual financial report, form 10-K405 |url=https://d1lge852tjjqow.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000320193/19cdeb31-2f1d-4fcb-a4a5-cdef6954f12e.pdf |website=Apple |access-date=June 5, 2023 |page=49 |date=December 23, 1998}}</ref> Steve Jobs preferred to only receive cash, but [[Gil Amelio]] insisted he take 1.5 million Apple shares to give the deal credibility.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Amelio |first1=Gil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMQhwQEACAAJ |title=On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple |last2=Simon |first2=William L. |date=1998 |publisher=Capstone |isbn=978-1-900961-98-1 |language=en}}</ref> The main purpose of the acquisition was to use NeXTSTEP as a foundation to replace the dated [[classic Mac OS]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Steve Jobs Sold NeXT to Apple 20 Years Ago|url=https://fortune.com/2016/12/20/apple-next-anniversary/|access-date=February 24, 2022|website=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]|language=en|last=Reisinger|first=Don|date=December 20, 2016|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123174345/https://fortune.com/2016/12/20/apple-next-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> Steve Jobs also returned to Apple as a consultant.<ref>{{Cite news
| title = Apple May Press Jobs To Be Or Not To Be CEO
| work = Newsbytes
| date = March 24, 1998}}</ref>

The deal was finalized on February 7, 1997.<ref name="archive">{{Cite web |url=http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/970207.pr.rel.next.html |title=Apple Computer, Inc. Finalizes Acquisition of NeXT Software Inc. |access-date=January 4, 2007 |archive-date=January 17, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990117075346/http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1997/q2/970207.pr.rel.next.html |url-status=dead }}, ''Apple Inc.'', February 7, 1997. Retrieved June 25, 2006.</ref><ref name="Linzmayer1999">{{Cite book |last=Linzmayer |first=Owen W. |title=Apple Confidential |year=1999 |edition=1st |pages=230–231 |language=en}}</ref> In 2000, Jobs took the CEO position as a permanent assignment,<ref>{{Cite web | date=January 6, 2000 | title=Jobs becomes permanent Apple CEO | website=[[ZDNET]] |first=Lisa M. |last=Bowman | url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/jobs-becomes-permanent-apple-ceo/ | access-date=July 26, 2023}}</ref> holding the position until his resignation on August 24, 2011, shortly before his death on October 5, 2011.<ref name="Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, dies at 56">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/06/steve-jobs-apple-cofounder-dies |work=The Guardian |location=UK |title=Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, dies at 56 |date=October 6, 2011 |first=Dominic |last=Rushe | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130619055912/http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/06/steve-jobs-apple-cofounder-dies | archive-date = June 19, 2013| url-status=live}}</ref>

Several NeXT executives replaced their Apple counterparts when Jobs restructured the company's board of directors. Over the next five years the NeXTSTEP operating system was ported to the [[PowerPC]] architecture of [[Macintosh]]. At the same time, an Intel port and OpenStep Enterprise toolkit for Windows were produced. That operating system was [[codename]]d [[Rhapsody (operating system)|Rhapsody]],<ref>{{Cite web | date=August 6, 1997 | title=What's NeXT? | work=MacObserver | first=Arlen | last=Britton | url=http://www.macobserver.com/columns/whatsnext/articles/080697.shtml | access-date=June 13, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527055757/http://www.macobserver.com/columns/whatsnext/articles/080697.shtml | archive-date=May 27, 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> and the crossplatform toolkit is Yellow Box. For backward compatibility, Apple added the Blue Box to Rhapsody, running existing Mac applications in a self-contained cooperative multitasking environment.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Thompson
| first = Tom
| title = Rhapsody with blue (Apple's next-generation operating system code-named Rhapsody)
| work = [[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]
| page = 26
| date = April 1997}}</ref>

A server version of Rhapsody was released as [[Mac OS X Server 1.0]] in 1999, and the first consumer version, [[Mac OS X 10.0]], in 2001. The OpenStep developer toolkit was renamed [[Cocoa (API)|Cocoa]]. Blue Box was renamed [[Classic Environment]] and changed to run applications full-screen without requiring a separate window. Apple included an updated version of the original Macintosh toolbox, called [[Carbon (API)|Carbon]], running existing Mac applications natively without the constraints of Blue Box.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Sellers
| first = Dennis
| title = OS X III: finally, a first-class OS
| work = Computer User
| page = 66
| date = November 2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news
| title = Mac OS X Takes Macintosh to New Level
| work = [[eWeek]]
| date = July 15, 2002}}</ref> Some of NeXTSTEP's interface features are used in Mac OS X, including the [[Taskbar|Dock]], the [[Services menu]], the [[Finder (software)|Finder]]'s "[[Miller columns|Column]]" view, and the [[Cocoa text system]].

NeXTSTEP's processor-independent capabilities were retained in Mac OS X, leading to PowerPC, x86, and ARM versions. Only PowerPC versions were publicly available before 2006 and were discontinued by 2009, and ARM versions were not released until 2020. Apple transitioned its Mac computers to Intel processors by August 2006, and to ARM processors as of September 2022.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006 |url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/06/06Apple-to-Use-Intel-Microprocessors-Beginning-in-2006/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Apple Newsroom |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Mac computers with Apple silicon | url=https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211814 | publisher=Apple Inc. | date=July 25, 2022 | access-date=September 16, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220916160633/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211814 |archive-date=September 16, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>