For me, it was just the experience of using it, seeing computer history, learning the roots of OS X, etc.
What about YOU? What made YOU love NeXT?
Well, the first time I got to work with NeXT systems was in the early 1990s, but back then I didn't see them as all that different from Macs (and used them pretty much the same way I had used Macs at the time).
I didn't really take a closer look at NeXT until it was announced that Apple was acquiring them and that their next generation of operating system would be based on OPENSTEP. That was when I cared enough (both about computers in general and NeXT specifically) to look at what I hadn't seen before as a casual user.
Unfortunately, knowing what NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP brought to Apple (mainly in the way of shared services) made me a little disappointed in what we finally got with Mac OS X. I know it isn't all Apple's fault (you can't force major developers to play nicely with others), but I think they could have done more to make users aware of what services bring to the table.
Today I consider myself lucky in that I have enough applications and experience to retreat to OPENSTEP/Rhapsody and still be perfectly productive in an environment that lets me just do my work and stays out of the way.
For me it was the GUI. I was a fan of UNIX before I saw a NeXT, but I never liked X11. When I saw a NeXT, with its real-world apps and beautiful GUI, along with the UNIX back-end I knew I was in love. For me, a heavy spreadsheet user, the killer app was Improv, and that's why I keep begging for someone to write a m68k NeXT emulator!
I sold a Mac 512Ke to buy a NeXT Computer Prototype, which I still have. After a while, I switched to Linux, but I still didn't like the GUI, and my wife really hated that system. So I kept a Windows machine (gasp) around, mostly for Quicken and for my wife to use for email.
In 2001, I was introduced to OS X, and I immediately saw its NeXT heritage, and I have been an OS X fan ever since. In 2001 I bought a G4 Cube to match my NeXT Computer, but I have since that G4.
Like some others, I have had wake from sleep problems on my PowerBook. Mine occurred when the ScreenSaver was enabled, and authentication is required. I have not reproduced this problem under 10.3.7 or 10.3.8, but I have not tried.
My problem seems to stem from the use of SSHKeychain. When I added that into the mix -- with a PowerBook that never gets shut down, and is bound to an Active Directory -- I got the problem. It only happened about 1/4 to 1/2 the time I tried to wake the laptop. If I disabled the screen saver's password prompt, or left SSHKeychain disabled (so that it is not running or loading my SSH public keys), then I didn't have a problem waking the computer up.
Note that I use a lot of Login Items in addition to SSHKeychain, and only disabling the screen saver password prompt or SSHKeychain seems to fix my problem. I couldn't find any rhyme or reason to this, and am trying to work with the author of SSHKeychain to see why/when this happens.
Even narrowing down the circumstances has been hard. I am not sure if I've had more or less luck while connecting to my wireless network at home (SSID not broadcast, but no authentication) or work (broadcast SSID, no authentication), or even moving between networks. I also don't know if there is a difference when the laptop is asleep because I closed the lid, or just let the screen saver kick in after some inactivity or manually starting it. I also get a very long delay when logging in through the loginwindow from home, when I'm away from work's Active Directory servers (and I believe that LDAP traffic to them is blocked, which may exacerbate the issue). This seems somewhat related to the sleep issue because of the password authentication required, and the fact that the laptop is bound to the Active Directory in the first place.
To fix the wake-lockup problem in the 10.3.6 timeframe, I just left the screen saver password prompt off, because SSHKeychain is more valuable to me.
I, umm, think your in the wrong thread...
What made me fall in love with NeXT was its connexion with Steve Jobs.
Here in France we often call ourselves the second motherland of the Macintosh, because we were in love with them since they came across our shores in the 80's.
I've been collecting macintoshes for a while now, and i've read The Second Coming Of Steve Jobs, and it made me think that, after all, Apple's genius had a lot to do with Jobs' genius.
I began studying the man (there's a great website about him btw, it's called allaboutstevejobs.com and it was made by a French fellow) and then i came across his NeXT period and it seemed great. I made some internet research and found Eric Levenez's website (again, another french guy)
http://www.levenez.com/NeXTSTEP/ which is one of the most complete website about next software and hardware i've seen yet.
And that was it, i was a next addict.
And when you think how much this company changed our ways of thinking and the way things are done now, how it leaded the way to OSX, how it was revolutionnary for its time, everybody should be in love with it !
The fact that it was a "designed from scratch" when it first came out and no need to have backward compatibility with anything thus "opening it up" by not having any restrictions. This is for both the hardware and software.
Of course this only applys to the first gen of any new system.
For me, it was reading this page (
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Articles/Reviews/Byte_november_1988/p3.jpg) of the article, where they talk about the 25MHz CPU and 640MB optical drive.
My best pal (who had brought the magazine in) and I were waiting for 1st period Computer Math, where we were about to churn out algebra (but first, a little Outrun, and maybe some Zork..) on Commodore 64s, saving everything onto 5.25" floppies that had been made double-sided. I doubt any of the hole punches worked at that school, but I digress.
Thinking about the high-res display, massive storage capacity, and all the advanced technology (I mean, Lasers! MegaPixels! Sign me up!), while waiting for my precious 2MHz 6502 session really lit the fire of compu-lust in me.
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Articles/Reviews/Byte_november_1988/
