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Apple, NextStep confront issue of compatibility      [Image] [Home]
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For years, Apple has been crippled by its Macintosh          [Index]
operating system. Although today's MacOS is very             [Feedback]
easy to use, the programming ``environment'' was
difficult for software writers. The MacOS is also
fragile: A bug in a single application program can
cause the entire computer to crash.

Apple knew about these problems, but it had been
largely unable to fix them -- in part because Apple
was worried that fixing the problems with the MacOS
would make the system unable to run some or all of
today's Macintosh applications.

Now that Apple has purchased Next Software and its
NextStep operating system, users are anxious about
Apple's plans to take advantage of it. But it's not
known how Apple will do this.

An operating system is the fundamental program that
controls all other programs that run on a
particular computer. The operating system controls
the appearance of windows on the computer's screen.
It controls devices such as a computer's disk drive
and printer, and it handles the way a computer
communicates on the Internet. Perhaps most
importantly, at least from Apple's point of view,
an operating system controls the way various
application programs interact with the computer and
each other.

NextStep has several parts. Down deep is something
called ``Mach'' -- which handles very basic chores
such as protecting one application from another.
NextStep also includes Unix, an operating system
favored by techies but considered very unfriendly
to novice users. Finally, it has a top layer called
OpenStep, which controls the computer's user
interface.

Although Apple's MacOS operating system only runs
on Macintosh computers and clones, the NextStep
operating system can run on four different kinds of
machines: NeXT's original, proprietary computers;
Intel-compatible PCs; and workstations manufactured
by Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

In a press conference after Apple's initial
announcement, Apple's chief technology officer
Ellen Hancock said that the new operating system
would probably only run on recent Macintosh
computers equipped with the PowerPC microprocessor.

Yet Apple could easily make the new operating
system work on some older Macintosh computers --
the ones that use the Motorola 68040 microprocessor
as well. The black workstations on which the
NextStep operating system was originally developed
were equipped with the 68040 processor, and
NextStep still runs on those machines.

The second half of the compatibility question is
how Apple's new operating system will run the
current generation of Macintosh Applications.

Apple could create a ``virtual'' Macintosh in a
window on a machine running NextStep; SoftWindows,
a Mac program that runs Windows programs, creates a
virtual Windows machine on today's Macs. Apple has
already created a virtual Macintosh system, the
Macintosh Application Environment, that runs on
some versions of the Unix operating system.

Beyond creating its next generation operating
system, Apple needs to persuade today's Mac
software developers to rewrite their applications
for the new environment -- but without forcing them
to relearn all they know and buy all-new equipment.

Time is critical, but there are reasons to believe
Apple can do the job. Several months ago at Be Inc.
-- the company Apple didn't choose in its hunt for
new technology -- engineers made the BeOS operating
system run on Macintosh hardware. They did it in
just a few weeks.

``I believe we can get something working pretty
quickly, too -- perhaps not two weeks, but quickly
nonetheless,'' said Avidas Tevanian, Next's vice
president of engineering. ``I'm not going to
comment on schedules right now. But clearly, the
sooner we ship (the new operating system) on
PowerPC, the better.''

                                -- Simson Garfinkel

Published Sunday, January 5, 1997, in the San Jose
Mercury News

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