NeXTSTEP (v0.8) was "out" in 1989. It looked like this:
http://toastytech.com/guis/ns08.html
Whereas Windows in 1989 looked like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2.1x
And Mac OS looked like this:
https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/System_6.0.4
I think you might be misremembering.
The very last version of NeXTSTEP was 4.x, and was released in 1996 near the end of NeXT's life. It was basically identical in looks to 3.x. Here are some screenshots of 3.x:
https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3... https://winworldpc.com/screenshot/53c394c2-abc2-ab26-5111-c3...
Some shots of NeXTSTEP 4.2. https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/openstep42
Windows was of course presently on Windows 95. Interestingly, both Windows 95 and OS/2 had largely copied NeXTSTEP design elements, including its famous "3D" look and feel, but even little things, like the popup corner menu, practically identical close and minimize (er, maximize) icons, etc., but with a much worse graphics subsystem, and terrible fonts and icons compared to NeXT.
https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win95
MacOS was not quite on version 8 yet but let's round it up. It too had copied design elements from NeXTSTEP, and likewise had a much cruder graphics subsystem with terrible fonts and icons in comparison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_8
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course. Windows and MacOS had caught up somewhat by then. But I think it's pretty incredible to seriously say that Windows or MacOS were ever better looking (or functioning) than NeXTSTEP, at least up until NeXT was bought by Apple and NeXTSTEP ceased to exist as a product. Heck, neither 95 nor MacOS 8 even had live window dragging, something NeXTSTEP had in 1989.
https://czechia.kde.org/screenshots/images/medium/matthiase1...
GNOME in 1999:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/GNOME_1....
Of course, it's a matter of taste, but GNOME and KDE looked pretty bad back then. If I had the money, I'd definitely preferred NeXTSTEP. It's just so much cleaner and better thought-out. This is what it looked like in the early 90ies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTSTEP#/media/File:NeXTSTEP_...
BTW, this is what NeXTSTEP looked like in 2000 (Mac OS X public beta):
https://512pixels.net/projects/aqua-screenshot-library/mac-o...
I love NeXTSTEP, because it was awesome for its time, but I greatly prefer the latest macOS :).
can confirm
That's the reason why I was using Window Maker back then