In 1996, Apple was in serious trouble. The Mac was almost obsolete. Its multitasking was flaky, it couldn’t handle multiple processors, and it kept crashing. Sales were tanking as users switched to Windows NT in droves.

Apple appointed a new CEO, Gil Amelio, to turn things around. He tried to replace the Mac’s System 7 with a new modern operating system he called Rhapsody. Amelio’s strategy wasn’t bad, but he failed to anticipate how difficult it would be to persuade Mac users and developers to switch platforms.

Fortunately, Amelio selected NeXTSTEP as the core foundation of Rhapsody, and the acquisition of NeXT led to the fateful return of Steve Jobs. Over the following two years, Jobs ousted Amelio, fixed his flawed Rhapsody strategy, added a shiny UI that looked so good you could lick it, and rename the whole thing Mac OS X.

LINKS

Gil Amelio’s book: On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple
https://www.amazon.com/Firing-Line-500-Days-Apple/dp/0887309186/

MacWorld Expo San Francisco January 7 1997 - Steve Jobs first keynote after his return to Apple:
https://youtu.be/QhhFQ-3w5tE?si=f0IIUmN-s_Ff0n0I

WWDC, May 1998 at the San Jose Convention Center - Steve Jobs and Avi Tevanian introduce Mac OS X and Carbon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03kTC0Sm7wc

Macworld San Francisco January 2000 - Steve Jobs announces Aqua:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII

Screenshot of iMovie running on Mac OS 9 with Aqua controls, before Aqua was announced for Mac OS X:
https://x.com/mac_os_9/status/1080826112408662017

Interesting article about Steve Jobs and object oriented programming:
https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-deep-history-of-your-apps-steve-jobs-nextstep-and-early-object-oriented-programming/