Re:NeXT vs. Sun (1991) [video]
by wtallis on Sunday August 21, 2016 @06:10PM
(#12332946)
You can't ignore how NeXT was somewhat constrained by not being able to compete head-on with Apple without incurring serious legal expenses. They got sued once right out of the gate and would certainly have been sued more if they started to cause real trouble.
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Re:NeXT vs. Sun (1991) [video]
by setpatchaddress on Sunday August 21, 2016 @09:01PM
(#12333512)
Sure you can. Sun and SGI were viable for a while.
Sun and SGI had a significant head start over NeXT. By the time NeXT shipped hardware, they were moving off 68k onto SPARC and MIPS respectively, building on successful and established product lines with the kind of hardware differentiation that NeXT didn't have the capital for. That's why NeXT had to change direction and make software such a major part of their strategy; they couldn't just re-play the same strategies that Sun and SGI got off the ground with, because those niches were now pretty well occupied.