NeXT Computers

[brams]

At some point after when NeXT was bought by Apple, they gave away free copies of OPENSTEP i486 to developers, iirc it was called Prelude to Rhapsody.

Is this it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NeXT-OpenStep-4-2-PreRelease-CDs-unopen_W0QQitemZ260039643703QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4619QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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NeXTcube Turbo Dimension, NeXTstation Turbo Color, MP2100, Q840av, Q650, WS G4 500, Pismo G4 550, SGI Octane R12K MXE, BeBox 133.

[RacerX]

It is hard to tell... Apple didn't change the OPENSTEP media at all during the time that they were selling it (from early 1997 until shortly after the release of Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999), so I doubt that they would have change the media for "Prelude to Rhapsody".

As I recall the "Prelude to Rhapsody" media cases were special, but because this doesn't include that, I don't think there is a way of telling.
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Rhapsody Resource Page

[brams]

I seem to *think* that it had a red band across one top corner which said "Prelude to Rhapsody" in white writing. I'd assumed the CD would be different as well. In fact I assumed, it would be like a beta version, but in fact it just normal OPENSTEP, that's correct?
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NeXTcube Turbo Dimension, NeXTstation Turbo Color, MP2100, Q840av, Q650, WS G4 500, Pismo G4 550, SGI Octane R12K MXE, BeBox 133.

[nextchef]

So is this a different version than the final version of OS 4.2? The reason I ask is because of this auction on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110157229282

The CD's/floppies say prelease 2 and the manuals and docs have the red sticker in the corner that says "Prelude to Rhapsody". Does this OS cd behave like a normal one, or was something special done to it in order to limit its usefulness in some way?

Chef
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Chef

NeXTCube, NeXTStation mono, Color, & TurboColor. SGI O2-1600SW, Indigo2, VW320/540, Sparc 5-10-20, HP-712/80

[RacerX]

My understanding was that other than some small changes in the printing of manuals and media, this was just plane ol' OPENSTEP 4.2. Apple just wanted to distinguish what was being given out to developers from what they were selling to customers (that is, they didn't want developers turning around and selling the OPENSTEP materials for a few thousand dollars, specially as they didn't have to pay that much to get them in the first place).

The media with the Prelude to Rhapsody labels on them would be the most collectable part of that auction I would think (specially for anyone who already has OPENSTEP).

I've heard, but can't confirm, that there are versions of OPENSTEP 4.1 with the same Prelude to Rhapsody labels on them. They were handed out to some key developers right after Apple acquired NeXT but before the release of 4.2. OPENSTEP 4.1 is also more of a collectors' item than anything else as it is not patchable. By 1998 Apple had decided to upgrade anyone who wanted to continue using NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP to either version 3.3 or 4.2 and continue on with patching only those versions.

As for the auction, that was a pretty good price to get such a rare item. Hopefully the new owner will make a quick copy and then put the actual media away somewhere safe... it would be awful if some bad equipment damaged that stuff.
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Rhapsody Resource Page

[nextchef]

[Jenne]

Hmmmm....

I wouldn't count on labeling that much because I had to deal with lots of media which had different stuff inside the packaging as the label said. Sometimes I was able to differ development status software only by the difference of size of stored data...

But I remember several press notes mentioning that "prelude to rhapsody" thing and I remember about three different versions labeled that way but I've never seen them so I can't tell much about it, anyway. Just digging around my memory of old press notes...

J
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http://www.blackmac.ch

[nextchef]

The CD's / Floppies do not have "Prelude to Rhapsody" on them anywhere. The only difference is the addition of PRERELEASE 2 on the left side below the 4.2 version designation. I will see about getting some pics this weekend and posting them.

Chef
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Chef

NeXTCube, NeXTStation mono, Color, & TurboColor. SGI O2-1600SW, Indigo2, VW320/540, Sparc 5-10-20, HP-712/80

[Mike_H]

Stepwise has a short article with info about the Prelude to Rhapsody package.
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Mike

[nextchef]

[nextchef]

I made a quick scan of all the stuff in the auction, and you can check it out below if interested.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dvdchef/OPENSTEPPreludeToRhapsody

Chef
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Chef

NeXTCube, NeXTStation mono, Color, & TurboColor. SGI O2-1600SW, Indigo2, VW320/540, Sparc 5-10-20, HP-712/80