5 ms·

Well. We'll see what they do, but Apple had better be very careful. If a lot of OSS software won't run on Apple's new chip, then it becomes very hard for a soft

Well. We'll see what they do, but Apple had better be very careful. If a lot of OSS software won't run on Apple's new chip, then it becomes very hard for a software developer like myself to stick with Apple. And it is developer energy that sustains the software ecosystem for Apple....including many developers who are in the Mac ecosystem to develop for iOS. This is not necessarily the wrong move for Apple, but it is fraught with danger. Here be dragons.

edude03 9y ago
OSS software can "just" be recompiled though.
- thothamon 9y ago
  In theory yes, but back in the PPC days a lot of stuff was not available even though theoretically it could have been.
- super_mario 9y ago
  This was complicated by the fact that PPC was big endian and Intel is little endian. If software assumed byte order when twiddling bits, etc, you could not just recompile it.
kccqzy 9y ago
By definition, if the maintainer of some OSS software doesn't have the time/energy/willingness to make the software run on Apple's new chip, you can do it yourself.
- thothamon 9y ago
  True, but right now I don't have to do it myself. Things like brew just work. If the proposal is to throw away something that works, and add the burden of doing it myself to my to-do list, that doesn't sound at all appealing.
  - kccqzy 9y ago
    Brew is maintained. If there is indeed an architectural switch, you would expect Brew to be one of the first projects to actively embrace it and make things just work.
bitL 9y ago
If iOS will be by that time the only mainstream way to make money from developing software (happening already), people would care very little about OSS there...
djrogers 9y ago
Much of the OSS stuff people run on macs - like the stuff that's in brew - already runs on various ARM based platforms. That's why your little raspberry pi can run a 'real desktop'.
wintercharm 9y ago
Keep in mind that Apple has a veritable army of ARM developers (thanks to the iOS app store) which 1. doesn't suck 2. pays very well 3. has already demonstrated multiplatform apps with iPad / iPhone
netheril96 9y ago
But unless the software has embedded assembly, most likely you can just recompile it and run it fine. Even easier if it is written in languages other than C/C++.

edude03 9y ago

OSS software can "just" be recompiled though.

thothamon 9y ago
In theory yes, but back in the PPC days a lot of stuff was not available even though theoretically it could have been.
super_mario 9y ago
This was complicated by the fact that PPC was big endian and Intel is little endian. If software assumed byte order when twiddling bits, etc, you could not just recompile it.

kccqzy 9y ago

By definition, if the maintainer of some OSS software doesn't have the time/energy/willingness to make the software run on Apple's new chip, you can do it yourself.

thothamon 9y ago
True, but right now I don't have to do it myself. Things like brew just work. If the proposal is to throw away something that works, and add the burden of doing it myself to my to-do list, that doesn't sound at all appealing.
- kccqzy 9y ago
  Brew is maintained. If there is indeed an architectural switch, you would expect Brew to be one of the first projects to actively embrace it and make things just work.

bitL 9y ago

If iOS will be by that time the only mainstream way to make money from developing software (happening already), people would care very little about OSS there...

djrogers 9y ago

Much of the OSS stuff people run on macs - like the stuff that's in brew - already runs on various ARM based platforms. That's why your little raspberry pi can run a 'real desktop'.

wintercharm 9y ago

Keep in mind that Apple has a veritable army of ARM developers (thanks to the iOS app store) which 1. doesn't suck 2. pays very well 3. has already demonstrated multiplatform apps with iPad / iPhone

netheril96 9y ago

But unless the software has embedded assembly, most likely you can just recompile it and run it fine. Even easier if it is written in languages other than C/C++.