Chapter 3. Using Apple’s Developer Tools

Before they were bought by Apple, NeXT’s business was almost entirely selling developer tools. Its hardware lines had been discontinued and their operating system was not widely used. Its developer tools, however, were very well regarded by the few who could afford them.

When OS X was first released, it contained Project Builder and Interface Builder, the two cornerstones of NeXT’s development environment, in an almost unmodified form. Although Apple machines had a reputation for being very expensive, the most expensive Mac sold at the time cost around the same amount as NeXT had been charging for the Windows version of OpenStep and the accompanying developer tools.