[jeffbee]

This would certainly have destroyed Apple, right? BeOS despite its cult followers was really almost useless and JLG would not have initiated the projects that made Apple a success after acquiring Next.

[linguae]

I agree in the sense that BeOS wouldn't have saved Apple, though this has less to do with the merits of BeOS and more to do with Apple's circumstances. Even with the purchase of NeXT, there was still a considerable time period between December 1996 (when the purchase of NeXT was announced) and March 2001 (when Mac OS X 10.0 was released) where Apple's customers still had to use the aging classic Mac OS (and even then Mac OS X didn't start getting widespread adoption among Mac users until the Jaguar/Panther eras). More to the point, Apple's operating system strategy wasn't the only issue Apple faced. NeXT's OpenStep API and OPENSTEP operating system weren't enough by themselves to turn around Apple; it was Steve Jobs' leadership and the successful launches of products such as the iMac G3 (1998), the iBook G3 (1999) that kept Apple afloat until Mac OS X was released. I don't know if Apple would have survived had Gil Amelio remained in power or had Jean-Louis Gassée took control.