Steve Jobs Unveils the NeXT Computer - October 12, 1988

1988-10-122:38:26Multiple languages

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

[Automatic transcript unavailable for this passage]
Good morning.
I think I speak for everybody at NEXT saying it's great to be back.
I haven't done this in a few years so I'm a little nervous today.
If you happen to see anything you like, feel free to let me know.
Thanks for joining us today.
I think together we're going to experience one of those times that occurs once or twice
in a decade of computing, a time when a new architecture is rolled out
that's really going to change the future of computing.
And we've worked on this for three years.
It's turned out incredibly great.
So I hope that...
hope that you love it as much as we do.
Now, we're going to try to take a little bit longer
than a usual product rollout today,
and not just tell you the what of what we've done,
but the why behind it, some of the key decisions we had to make,
some of the key risks we had to take,
to give you a more full understanding of why
this is such a revolutionary new architecture.
So why don't we get into it now?
Now, we started off with a model.
And our model said that...
All computer architectures have about a 10-year life.
And that means if they're really revolutionary, when they come out, they don't run existing software.
Now, our computer will run most Unix software.
But once you see what else it will do, you won't want to run existing Unix software.
And so we'll have to build, just like every architecture, a base of application software
that takes full advantage of the new capabilities of the machine.
Now, that starts to get going. The computer takes off. And around year five, it reaches its
architectural peak. And then it goes into what you might call a glide slope. Now, that doesn't
mean its volume, its unit volume sales peak, but it does mean that the architecture is everything
it's ever going to be at that point. And an interesting thing happens at the peak. Its
greatest asset, which is all of those applications that it's taken five years to build,
become its greatest liability because it can't change technology. It can't adopt new technology,
principally software technology that comes along, or else it will break all of those applications
and open up the buy decision. And almost universally, people say, that's not a good
idea. Let's let new technology pass us by and ride down a very profitable glide slope.
Now, as we applied our model to history, it fit pretty well. It fit perfectly with the Apple II.
And even though very successful new models were introduced after the peak, still the peak was
in approximately 1982, although it's still selling really well
after 11 years.
Now, next comes the IBM PC.
And although the clone phenomenon
has extended the unit sales peak,
our model says that the IBM PC peaked in around 1986.
And I think the PC was everything
it was ever going to be in 1986.
Now, OS2 will probably constitute a new wave here.
But as far as the MS-DOS PC, our model
says it peaked in about 86.
Then came the Macintosh.
Now, our model says two things about the Macintosh.
The first one is, about a year ago,
it crossed the PC in market momentum.
Not unit sales, but market momentum.
Now, what does that mean?
What it means is that all of the new aggressive hot software
is on the Macintosh first.
It means the momentum of the market is behind the Mac.
But the model also says another thing.
It says that Mac is going to peak next year.
It says that you can already see cracks
in the architectural foundation, which
are going to keep it from being anything more than it will be
sometime next year.
Now, workstations have made a few ripples.
And I think they've made some major technological
contributions, megapixel displays, multitasking,
networking.
But even taken collectively, they
haven't sold enough units because they're not easy enough
to use.
And so they don't really rate a wave yet.
But what we want to do is take some of that technology
and make the fourth wave going into the 90s.
And I don't think we'll escape the laws of physics.
I think we'll have to build an application software base.
And I think we'll peak sometime in 1994 or 5.
But I think we're going to make the first wave
going into the 90s.
Now, where do we find out what this ought to be?
How do we define this fourth wave?
What we did was collaborated with a group of people
that are probably the most diverse and demanding
and modernized learning as it is known today.
For it is here in higher education
where boundaries of knowledge are pushed,
imagination stretched, and technologies tested.
Academia is and always will be where
the hardest questions are asked and the greatest answers found.
And it is from this scholarly community
that much of the world's computer invention has sprung.
Yet despite the fact that computers
are an integral part of academia, they have not yet
been the catalyst for the educational change
that their promise holds.
We collaborated with the leaders in educational computing
from research universities such as Stanford and Carnegie
Mellon, liberal arts schools like Vassar and Reed,
as well as state universities from California to Michigan
to Maryland.
We asked them not for their list of specifications,
but for a list of their dreams, not
to extend what computers have been,
but to imagine what they could be.
Only then did we begin to develop the next computer.
Have we made progress towards our goal?
We'll let one of our advisors answer in his own words.
The next computer will become a university on a
desktop.
Since knowledge is a social process,
the computer is designed to facilitate communication
with others.
Since today's scholars build on the heritage of the past,
it provides a storage medium, which
will allow us to recreate the research library
on our desktops.
Since we use multiple strategies to think and learn,
it provides multimedia communications, sound,

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

[Automatic transcript unavailable for this passage]

Good morning.

I think I speak for everybody at NEXT saying it's great to be back.

I haven't done this in a few years so I'm a little nervous today.

If you happen to see anything you like, feel free to let me know.

Thanks for joining us today.

I think together we're going to experience one of those times that occurs once or twice

in a decade of computing, a time when a new architecture is rolled out

that's really going to change the future of computing.

And we've worked on this for three years.

It's turned out incredibly great.

So I hope that...

hope that you love it as much as we do.

Now, we're going to try to take a little bit longer

than a usual product rollout today,

and not just tell you the what of what we've done,

but the why behind it, some of the key decisions we had to make,

some of the key risks we had to take,

to give you a more full understanding of why

this is such a revolutionary new architecture.

So why don't we get into it now?

Now, we started off with a model.

And our model said that...

All computer architectures have about a 10-year life.

And that means if they're really revolutionary, when they come out, they don't run existing software.

Now, our computer will run most Unix software.

But once you see what else it will do, you won't want to run existing Unix software.

And so we'll have to build, just like every architecture, a base of application software

that takes full advantage of the new capabilities of the machine.

Now, that starts to get going. The computer takes off. And around year five, it reaches its

architectural peak. And then it goes into what you might call a glide slope. Now, that doesn't

mean its volume, its unit volume sales peak, but it does mean that the architecture is everything

it's ever going to be at that point. And an interesting thing happens at the peak. Its

greatest asset, which is all of those applications that it's taken five years to build,

become its greatest liability because it can't change technology. It can't adopt new technology,

principally software technology that comes along, or else it will break all of those applications

and open up the buy decision. And almost universally, people say, that's not a good

idea. Let's let new technology pass us by and ride down a very profitable glide slope.

Now, as we applied our model to history, it fit pretty well. It fit perfectly with the Apple II.

And even though very successful new models were introduced after the peak, still the peak was

in approximately 1982, although it's still selling really well

after 11 years.

Now, next comes the IBM PC.

And although the clone phenomenon

has extended the unit sales peak,

our model says that the IBM PC peaked in around 1986.

And I think the PC was everything

it was ever going to be in 1986.

Now, OS2 will probably constitute a new wave here.

But as far as the MS-DOS PC, our model

says it peaked in about 86.

Then came the Macintosh.

Now, our model says two things about the Macintosh.

The first one is, about a year ago,

it crossed the PC in market momentum.

Not unit sales, but market momentum.

Now, what does that mean?

What it means is that all of the new aggressive hot software

is on the Macintosh first.

It means the momentum of the market is behind the Mac.

But the model also says another thing.

It says that Mac is going to peak next year.

It says that you can already see cracks

in the architectural foundation, which

are going to keep it from being anything more than it will be

sometime next year.

Now, workstations have made a few ripples.

And I think they've made some major technological

contributions, megapixel displays, multitasking,

networking.

But even taken collectively, they

haven't sold enough units because they're not easy enough

to use.

And so they don't really rate a wave yet.

But what we want to do is take some of that technology

and make the fourth wave going into the 90s.

And I don't think we'll escape the laws of physics.

I think we'll have to build an application software base.

And I think we'll peak sometime in 1994 or 5.

But I think we're going to make the first wave

going into the 90s.

Now, where do we find out what this ought to be?

How do we define this fourth wave?

What we did was collaborated with a group of people

that are probably the most diverse and demanding

and modernized learning as it is known today.

For it is here in higher education

where boundaries of knowledge are pushed,

imagination stretched, and technologies tested.

Academia is and always will be where

the hardest questions are asked and the greatest answers found.

And it is from this scholarly community

that much of the world's computer invention has sprung.

Yet despite the fact that computers

are an integral part of academia, they have not yet

been the catalyst for the educational change

that their promise holds.

We collaborated with the leaders in educational computing

from research universities such as Stanford and Carnegie

Mellon, liberal arts schools like Vassar and Reed,

as well as state universities from California to Michigan

to Maryland.

We asked them not for their list of specifications,

but for a list of their dreams, not

to extend what computers have been,

but to imagine what they could be.

Only then did we begin to develop the next computer.

Have we made progress towards our goal?

We'll let one of our advisors answer in his own words.

The next computer will become a university on a

desktop.

Since knowledge is a social process,

the computer is designed to facilitate communication

with others.

Since today's scholars build on the heritage of the past,

it provides a storage medium, which

will allow us to recreate the research library

on our desktops.

Since we use multiple strategies to think and learn,

it provides multimedia communications, sound,