
Adoption
First released in 1987, the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project that takes source code in a number of different languages (including C) and compiles it to machine code. By the late 1980’s GCC was already being adopted as the standard compiler for most modern Unix Operating Systems but at the time, did not support Objective-C.
http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/
The Evolution of an Operating System
For the next five years, Jobs and NeXT Inc. continued to refine their operating system. A collaboration in 1993 with Sun Microsystems resulted in some major restructuring with much of the software that specifically depended on NeXT hardware being stripped away along with significant re-organisation to separate the core operating system (also called the Mach Kernel), the compilers, the display system and the NeXTSTEP Objective-C Libraries. In September 1994, this collaboration bore fruit with the publication of the first draft of the OpenStep API. Later that same year, NeXT Inc. released an OpenStep API compliant version of their NeXTSTEP Operating System which they re-branded as OPENSTEP. This new operating system supported both the NeXT hardware platforms (using the Mach Kernel) but also Sun SPARC Systems.A Return to Apple
OPENSTEP, with Objective-C at its core, remained the primary operating system for NeXT workstations until December 1996 when Apple Computer announced its intention to buy NeXT Inc. (which it subsequently did for around $429 million in cash). The main motivation of the acquisition was to acquire OPENSTEP and use it as the foundation to replace the ageing Apple Computer Mac OS Operating System.
