Editing NeXT (section)

====Second generation====
[[File:NEXT Cube-IMG 7151.jpg|thumb|alt=A black NeXTstation computer and a black NeXTcube workstation; the latter is housed in a cube-shaped magnesium enclosure|A NeXTcube has a NeXT monitor.]]
[[File:NeXTcube motherboard.jpg|thumb|The [[mainboard]] of the NeXTcube (1990) has a Motorola 68040 at the lower edge. To the right are the interfaces, to the left the [[system bus]]. The enlarged view of the image has annotations for most of the components.|alt=The mainboard of the NeXTcube (1990) has the Motorola 68040 and other computer components.]]
In 1990, NeXT released a second generation of workstations, a revised NeXT Computer called [[NeXTcube]] and the [[NeXTstation]]. The NeXTstation's nickname is "the slab" for its low-rise box form-factor. Jobs ensured that NeXT staffers did not nickname the NeXTstation "[[Pizza-box form factor|pizza box]]" to avoid inadvertent comparison with competitor Sun workstations, which already had that nickname.

The machines were initially planned to use the 2.88&nbsp;MB floppy drive, but its floppy disks were expensive and had failed to supplant the 1.44&nbsp;MB floppy. NeXT used the [[CD-ROM]] drive instead, which eventually became the industry standard for [[Computer data storage|storage]]. Color graphics were available on the NeXTstation Color and [[NeXTdimension]] [[Video card|graphics processor]] hardware for the NeXTcube. The new computers, with the new [[Motorola 68040]] processor, were cheaper and faster than their predecessors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pyro 50 Mhz Accelerator Board |url=http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/pyro_installation.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=December 23, 2021 |website=NeXT |archive-date=March 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329064138/http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Rare_NeXT_Hardware/pyro_installation.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16A_AQAAIAAJ|title=Byte|date=1993|publisher=[[McGraw Hill Education|McGraw-Hill]]|language=en|page=35-36}}</ref>

In 1992, NeXT launched "Turbo" variants of the NeXTcube and NeXTstation, with a 33&nbsp;MHz 68040 processor and the maximum RAM capacity increased to 128&nbsp;MB. In 1992, NeXT sold 20,000 computers, counting upgraded motherboards on back order as system sales. This was a small number compared with competitors, but the company reported sales of $140 million for the year, which encouraged Canon to invest a further $30 million to keep the company afloat.{{sfn|Young|Simon|2005|p=200}}

{{quote box | width=25% | align=right | text=In its existence, Next has sold a total of 50,000 copies of Nextstep, says Jobs. It's not much of an installed base, so he predicts the company will ship 50,000 Nextstep packages in 1993. But Next needs to increase its volume three-fold in order to build enough momentum to forestall Microsoft and Taligent in the object-oriented software business. | source=''UnixWorld'', April 1993<ref name="Unixworld April 1993"/>}}

In total, 50,000 NeXT machines were sold,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2005/12/next-fans-give-up-the-ghost/|title=NeXT Fans Give Up the Ghost|last=Mortensen|first=Pete|date=December 21, 2005|work=[[Wired (website)|Wired]]|access-date=March 3, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629034820/http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2005/12/69888?currentPage=1|archive-date=June 29, 2011|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name="Unixworld April 1993">{{Cite magazine | magazine=UnixWorld | publisher=McGraw-Hill | date=April 1993 | page=44 | title=Steve's Gone Soft }}</ref> including thousands to the then super-secret [[National Reconnaissance Office]] located in Chantilly, Virginia. NeXT's long-term plan was to migrate to one of the emerging high-performance [[Reduced instruction set computer|Reduced Instruction Set Computing]] (RISC) architectures, with the NeXT RISC Workstation (NRW). Initially, the NRW was to be based on the [[Motorola 88110]] processor, but it was later redesigned around dual PowerPC 601s, due to a lack of confidence in Motorola's commitment to the 88000-series architecture in the time leading up to the [[AIM alliance]]'s transition to [[PowerPC]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/93.03.Mar.NWE/93.03.Mar.NWExtra21.html|title=Hardware was great while it lasted|last=Garfinkel|first=Simson L.|date=March 1993|website=NeXTWORLD|access-date=June 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614201019/http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/93.03.Mar.NWE/93.03.Mar.NWExtra21.html|archive-date=June 14, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/93.03.Mar.NWE/93.03.Mar.NWExtra07.html|title=Canon to buy NeXT factory, design center|last=Lavin|first=Dan|date=March 1993|website=NeXTWORLD|url-status=live|access-date=June 13, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614200658/http://www.simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/93.03.Mar.NWE/93.03.Mar.NWExtra07.html|archive-date=June 14, 2008}}</ref>