Steve Jobs and the NeXT big thing
by Randall E. Stross · first published 1993
85% recommend15% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Detailed, period-written account of NeXT's rise and fall, with comparisons to Sun and a view of late-80s computer sales; valued for history of the company and Jobs's management style.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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For anyone interested in the history of NeXT, I highly recommend Randall Stross's "Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing."[0] (And I regret that I may have personally had some role in the current outsized prices of used copies -- my apologies!) We also had a really interesting Twitter Spaces discussion of both the book…
on “Apple and NeXT, 25 Years Ago this week” ↗I can recommend the book “Steve Jobs and the NeXT big thing”. The Author compares NeXT a lot with Sun including their business strategies. I have never thought I will learn so much about the early days of Sun by reading this book. https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Next-Big-Thing/dp/06891213...
on “Bill Gates: "I'm literally losing sleep over Java"” ↗For anyone interested in NeXT, I very strongly recommend Randall Stross's "Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing"[0]. The book -- written when NeXT was barely breathing and Jobs had been left for dead -- is extraordinary, and I think much more revealing of Jobs than Isaacon's biography of him. (Having read Stross,…
on “Next Computers” ↗If anyone is interested in an analysis of the rise and fall of NeXT, I highly recommend Randall Stross' "Steve Jobs & the NeXT Big Thing", which was published in 1993. Considering Apple's incredible comeback, it's kind of strange to read something that is so critical of Jobs, but the book really helps inform about his thought processes on product design, marketing, and sales.
on “All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)” ↗…NeXT, which also had its share of "crazy Steve" management, and which would have been an unmitigated failure if Apple hadn't bought them out. If you're interested in that story, Randall Stross' book Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing (http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Next-Big-Thing/dp/068912135...) is a good telling of it. (It was written before Jobs' return to Apple and subsequent huge success, so it's a fascinating artifact of the…
on “Humiliation in Startups” ↗…still in that O'Reilly's specifics may or may not be the ones that a founder needs to apply to their own situation. Second -- and I recommend this whenever anyone mentions Jobs -- is Randall Stross's "Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing"[1], a history of NeXT written at Jobs' darkest hour. An extraordinary book that will leave you with a much more nuanced view of Jobs: not only in terms of his strengths (definitely those!) and his weaknesses…
on “Founder Mode” ↗If you want more on this, I recommend Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing by Stross. I’m not sure, but it might be the only extensive book about Next other than this new one. Though it’s essentially a long hit piece. The author really had it out for Jobs. In fact it’s a completely…
on “Steve Jobs Next Computer: His Forgotten Exile Years” ↗Steve Jobs & the NeXT Big Thing by Randall E. Stross covers the NeXT years extensively and in period. Highly recommended also to do some “archeological” read/research into what it was like to sell computers in the late 80’s, early 90’s
on “Steve Jobs Next Computer: His Forgotten Exile Years” ↗I can also recommend "Steve Jobs and the NeXT big thing" by Randall Stross.
on “Behind the scenes at the NeXT Computer office” ↗The biography regarding how NeXT came to be is quite relevant in how it all went, and how lucky it was that Apple ended up going with NeXT instead of Be. "Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing"
on “The day Steve Jobs dissed me in a keynote (2010)” ↗Off the top of my head: - Soul of a New Machine - The Cuckoo's Egg - Revolution in the Valley - Fire in the Valley - Compilers by Sethi, Ullman, Aho - Masters of Doom - iWoz - Steve Jobs & the NeXT Big Thing - Crypto - Code - The Man Who Loved Only Numbers - The Man Who Knew Infinity - ANSI Common LISP Most of the books above are recommended because once reading them you will have an
on “Ask YC: What would you put on a hacker's bookshelf?” ↗I have this book, "Steve Jobs and The Next Big Thing." It was written when Steve Jobs was running Next Computers and struggling. It was all about what a terrible manager he was, how he had bad ideas, etc. It is actually a good book and I like to keep…
on “Ask HN: Why do HN feel so negatively about Musk?” ↗For the last few years I've been collecting computer history books that I get at used book stores. Unfortunately, I have more just collected than read them, but I did read and enjoy Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing and Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul...
on “The Joy of Computer History Books” ↗I second the recommendation for Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing. Really fascinating book. I love books that are written during an event because they lack the hindsight of books written once time has passed so they have different perspectives than later books on the…
on “Next Computers” ↗Besides the sibling comments, if you read books like "Steve Jobs & the Next Big Thing", this point of view is quite detailed there. Younger readers will find out that modern Apple attitude is quite similar to the early years of the Macintosh being sold to universities. The be nice and think different phase was only during the time they were about to close doors.
on “What happened to Apple's legendary attention to detail?” ↗