NeXT Inc could be on the brink of a major breakthrough if talks between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, reported in the New York Times yesterday, come to fruition. According to the Times, Microsoft Corp is discussing financing of the work necessary for NeXT to do a version of its OpenStep object-oriented development environment for Windows NT and Windows95. The first question on everyone’s lips on hearing the suggestion is does that mean that Cairo is in trouble? Cairo is Microsoft’s object-oriented follow-on operating environment to Windows NT, but another interpretation would be that Microsoft either wants to keep all object bases covered just in case – an approach taken by Hewlett-Packard Co, or that object-oriented technology represents such a threat to Microsoft’s applications business in the medium term that the company is following the time-honoured strategy followed by years by IBM Corp with any development it fears, and trying to muddy the waters as much as possible. A deal for NeXT to create a version of what the Times identifies only as its highly-regarded software rather than by name, for Windows95 and NT was close to being announced this week, people familiar with the talks told the paper, which adds that snags delayed any imediate agreement. Cairo is now scheduled for release no earlier than 1996, and there were conflicting reports about why the Microsoft-NeXT deal was not finished. Several people said that Jobs had tried to change the terms of the agreement at the last moment, while others suggested that key members of the Cairo development team had objected to a Microsoft endorsement of a competing system.
