“In early 1986, a team in Apple’s Advanced Technology Group began a research project that was code-named Pink, with the goal to create an operating system for the next generation of computers. In 1990, the project became TalOS—the property of Taligent—a joint venture between Apple and IBM. In 1994, Pink’s OS dreams died as Taligent redirected its efforts toward CommonPoint, a non-OS application environment which would exist as a layer on other operating systems (as an API).” Old, but good read. More information about the OS who’s heart stopped beating around 1997 can be found here.
Learn about Taligent’s TalOS
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I’ve often wondered about Pink, and read tiny blurbs here and there that claimed that it would really be totally next generation. This is about the most information I’ve seen on it, and the first screenshots. If anyone else has any more info, I’d love to munch on it!
Did all the OSes die because they were unfavored in one way or another (bad management, little money, plagued with bad coders, no marketing), or did they die because they simply were no good?
Either way, they are interesting, and I think that it is a shame that they go away undocumented, and that the code dies away.
I am not much of a free software nut, but I think that it would be a nice guesture to save these failed OSes (and their code) for the future. And that any piece of software that you sell should be open sourced if you discontinue it without a resonable upgrade path.
Talk about stupid. We had a good laugh at Borland when we saw what the Taligent people were up to, especially with their C++ frameworks.
It was obvious that no one at the company had ever shipped a commercial application written in C++.
Lots of brains, but no experience. In C++ world, that’s death.
After making mistake after mistake and burning hundreds of millions of dollars, Taligent finally shipped some working C++ code. In many ways, before its time.
The funny thing is that looking what is in print now, you could call Taligent “the 100 million dollar book on C++ programming”.
Taligent would have been a great Java company during the dotcom era. Would have IPO’d and have had some amazing market value. Taligent did have a lot of hype going for it.
Taligent alumni have gone on to do some cool stuff. They did learn from their Taltanic experience.
#m
I bought those Taligent books when it was still fresh quite a few yrs back. I only browsed them, but I couldn’t remember anything in the books other than generalisations about doing things the OO way. I don’t recall seing any screenshots either. Apple was always good at starting lots of fancy projects & letting them die on the grapevine after a short eternity, OpenDOC, Copeland, Rhapsody etc. Eventually paying too much attention to Apple wears you out waiting for anything real to come out & I gave up on them. I would go back if OSX actually ran fast but I still find even that loaded up with stuff I just don’t want.
The older I get, the more I appreciate the utter nakedness & simplicity of the original Mac 512K. Nothing there except basic OS (2 system file minimum) and whatever you added. If it had been more stable & protected, my life would never have gone to the darkside of Windows.
Anybody wants to make an offer for those books, I’m open.
I stoped wandering about dying technology – I’m probably too old. Take a broader look.
It happens everywhere – not only in software coding.
Where are my favorite vacuum tubes? What a technology it was , how much brain power was invested in it – it’s all in the dust.
How many network protocols we are using today compare to what is registered in IANA ? Even in TCP world – not so many OS news readers know how to use archie and gopher.
It doesn’t matter in business how many companies went bankrupt, it’s the difference between newly opend and closed. When UNIX took the world there were very few OSes and they were all propriatary and for specific hardware.
Nowadays we see the real blossom of OSes – most of them dies
but some will stay. There is too much money involved here, although, to follow darwin’s law of evolution. Otherwise Microsoft would be dead long time ago.
Apple was always good at starting lots of fancy projects & letting them die on the grapevine after a short eternity, OpenDOC, Copeland, Rhapsody etc
Rhapsody later evolved into OS X. The same way Microsoft killed Chicago (Windows 95), Apple killed Rhapsody (Mac OS X Server).
Yes, I ordered Dylan. It arrived, I perused it, then put it back in the box. I never heard another word from Apple or anyone about it. Another example of starting a fancy project and letting them die.
If I were really unkind, I could probably find a 100 Apple projects, but I understand these things, 90% or more of most projects fail, the word can’t accomodate all the worlds creativity!