I've been doing a lot of thought about operating systems, and I think I can say for sure that OS4.2 was way ahead of it's time, and is still better than any modern operating system. I say this in confidence because, despite being more than 20 years old, and despite new features like 64-bit computing being common in modern systems, OS4.2 was just that much better. I can go on and on about how Linux, Windows, and even MacOS have gone down the wrong paths either from the very beginning or very recently. In any case, I firmly believe that a resurrection of NeXTStep is a project that I want to take on.
I don't completely know if it would be possible to properly resurrect NeXTStep, considering the many obvious hurdles (The source for NeXTStep has not been, and probably never will be released). However, I think it would be possible to build something similar to NeXTStep using the tools that others have left behind for us. We have a modern kernel that is descended from NeXTStep (XNU) and we have a set of base utilities built for it (Darwin). While these obviously don't maintain the same philosophies as NeXT did, I think that if the community dedicates itself to applying the original philosophies it would be possible to restore it.
I'm not going to kid myself and say that I would be able to jump into this and finish withing a few months. However, I'd say there's quite a bit that this community could do. The OPENSTEP guidelines have been, to an extent, reincarnated in GNUStep (Although I think GNUStep is fundamentally flawed it would certainly be possible to build something new out of it). We also have things like NextSpace, an attempt at building an OPENSTEP desktop environment for Linux.
In essence, I'm saying that this forum has more than enough ability to build something wonderful. I've seen several posts on here, Reddit, and 4Chan asking if it would be possible to ask Apple for the source code. It's obviously not going to happen, but what could happen is us building something inspired off of it. Instead of discussing how great the OS was, let's carry on its legacy and build something even greater!
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
- Spotracite
Hello Spot: You will enjoy getting on this project
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=4028.0 Taking the NeXTSTEP ! Best Regards Rob Blessin