Steve Jobs Signed 1988 NExt Inc. Memo Autograph Founder CEO

An original, internal confidential memorandum from Steve Jobs, dated October 27, 1987, and distributed to the core executive team of NeXT Inc. in early 1988. This is not a copy or a reprint, but the original document printed on period-correct greenbar continuous-feed paper from a dot-matrix printer, bearing an authentic signature of Steve Jobs in black ink.

This memo captures an inflection point in the journey of NeXT, the company Jobs founded after his ouster from Apple. It is arguably one of the most important strategic documents to emerge from the company's early years. Within these four pages, Jobs forcefully argues for a fundamental pivot in business strategy, moving from being solely a high-end hardware manufacturer ("The Cube") to leveraging its true crown jewel: the NeXTSTEP operating system.

The memo introduces "Project Liberty," the internal codename for the initiative to port the NeXTSTEP OS to the Intel 386 architecture and other platforms. This was a radical and controversial idea within NeXT, which saw itself as a builder of integrated systems. Jobs's prescience here is stunning; this strategic shift towards software ultimately laid the groundwork for NeXTSTEP's evolution into what would, after Apple's acquisition of NeXT in 1996, become the foundation of Mac OS X and today's macOS and iOS. Every Apple product running on these systems owes a debt to the strategy first articulated in this very document.

The memo is addressed to key NeXT executives, including CFO Susan Barnes (to whom Jobs has added a handwritten note: "Susan - Let's talk numbers Thursday morning. SJ"), VP Software Bud Colligan, and Marketing head Mike Slade. The "cc" list includes other NeXT luminaries like Joanna Hoffman, a member of the original Mac team who followed Jobs to NeXT.

It was acquired from a former NeXT executive who was on the original distribution list. This document was part of a limited hard-copy dissemination, marked explicitly with "HARD COPY DISTRIBUTION ONLY - DO NOT PHOTOCOPY," making surviving originals exceptionally rare. It has been kept in a private collection for over three decades, preserved in remarkable condition.