@pcuimac The market prefers the best product *as defined by customers*. This can mean "features" that are important to customers (like application compatibility) or cost (if something costs more than the value you'll derive from it, you won't buy it). By this means, the market provides a range of products that fit customers' individual needs and desires. Depending on how closely *your* needs and desires track to the population at large determines how satisfied you'll be with available products.
The custom app was what he was because his (practically non-existant) installed base had no software to use - in ANY market (even desktop publishing, which was taking off at the time, ignored it - with the exception of Adobe Illustrator) . So he was selling them to markets that needed custom app development, which were mostly government agencies and Universities.
@JohnBooty Beefy desktops are even becoming an irrelevant niche. There are now very steep diminishing returns in getting the very latest hardware. When you take into account the cost of noticeable improvement as well as how quickly the hardware drops in price over time, there's just no business sense in spending more than a consumer would for a PC.
If you read between the lines...
"I call it Interpersonal Computing, or IPC... It's this thing that you, the developer, are about to invent on my machine. You may call it something else, like the Interwebs or the Web, for short. I see this as being the NeXT big move in computers. With your IPC software, we'll develop an application-server platform that will enable the distribution of media like video and music to a lightweight client that I'll refer to as iTunes for now."
The nonacceptance of NeXT Computers is a clear sign that the MARKET dosen´t prefer the best product. It prefers the ESTABLISHED product. Like evolution markets hate to begin from scratch with a better solution. They like to change NOT and make profit forever with only minimal innovation. Thank Steve that he got back to apple and gave us at least OS X. But Openstep 5 would have been even better.
Next PC was Tandy 1000x something. Micro-step more productive. Then, due to a great sacrifice by my mom, the next PC was a MacII, in late 1987, with NEC MultitSync Monitor, and LED Digital-Edge Laser Printer, LS-890, I think.
Thank you, Steven Jobs.
\\Billy Gates: You deserve the world's computer-suckers who've dumped their bank accounts on your stupid ideas about computing! Go drown in your ill-gotten sucker wealth, my neighbor in Redmon!
Bought the first desktop PC - IBM Compat - from a surplus dealer in 1985. It was, to say it polite, CRAP! Why? DOS. Period.
If Billy-goat Gates had not the least clue about USING a PC, and created DOS as a user interface, Billy's entire globe of computing was a thousand years before REAL people had USABLE computing tools for REAL-world work. In other words, using that B.S. PC was 90% Programming, 5% production, & 5% figuring how to make output worth more than useless!
Enter Steve Jobs.
I'm thinking what killed NeXT was getting in the workstation market just before the combo of Free Unices and More's Law killed the entire market. Sun's workstation business died too, when's the last time you bought a sparcstation. But luckily NeXT managed to survive by consuming Apple from the inside out. After all, my Intel Mac has more in common with NeXT than it does with any Apple products from before Jobs' return.
Steve's presentation skills really are amazing. Doesn't matter if he is in front of a whiteboard, of a massive keynote presentation being projected. The guy is incredible in his delivery.
People remember Einstein for his theory, and Beethoven for his brilliance. I don't read anything in history books about how terrible their fashion sense was. I just notice people mentioning profound effect on history. Then there are those who dress like a million bucks but their talents are only worth 2 nickles.
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