7 ms·

This is a great feat and it creates a somewhat ironic situation: When I want to run an app on Catalina that happens to be 32-bit only, I'm practically forced to

This is a great feat and it creates a somewhat ironic situation: When I want to run an app on Catalina that happens to be 32-bit only, I'm practically forced to use the Windows version. I can't see how that was a smart move on Apple's side.

scarface74 7y ago
Why would Apple cafe if you run Windows on the Mac?
- IggleSniggle 7y ago
  It weakens your incentive to buy a Mac the next time you purchase a computer if you find yourself forced into a different OS anyway.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Apple has been offering solutions to run Windows apps for over two decades. First they bundled SoftWindows with early PPC Macs, then they offered hardware Intel daughtercards and they have been bundling Boot Camp since shortly after the Intel Macs were introduced. There is very little important software outside of iOS development software that is Mac only. People who care about backwards compatibility would never buy Macs.
    - wayoutthere 7y ago
      > There is very little important software outside of iOS development software that is Mac only. So true; it feels like every Mac app is Electron these days.
andai 7y ago
Could some of the wizardry described here be used to get native 32-bit software working again?
- blablabla123 7y ago
  Not sure how long this would work but the trick is to copy the 32 bit shared libraries over: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/374038 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/374038 It's apparently straightforward to install - an old - macOS in a VM. This can then be used to obtain the dylibs
- tempodox 7y ago
  As I understand it, this would only be possible if you recompiled the software with the modified Clang they use for the Windows apps (and the underlying tech is in a state of flux). I'm not sure that would be more expedient than rebuilding your app as 64-bit.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  The system frameworks you’d depend on don’t have a 32-bit slice anymore, unfortunately. You’d need to wrap every function in a think to make things work.
  - CodeWriter23 7y ago
    > You’d need to wrap every function in a think to make things work. I think you meant “thunk”.
    - Stratoscope 7y ago
      The unthinkable has been thunk. Who'd a thunk it?
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      I did but AutoCorrect unfortunately thunk differently.
dewey 7y ago
The writing that 32bit apps are going away was on the wall for a long time. If you still rely on that (maybe for some enterprise application) then you are probably not going to upgrade to the newest version right away anyway. It’s like removing the floppy drive, there will be a bunch of people complaining (probably the 1%) who still use it but in the end everyone is better of without it and it will be replaced by something better. Almost nobody of the general users would know a difference between 32 / 64 bit as they just use new apps or use web apps. It’s a very small group that’s affected by this change.
- oefrha 7y ago
  The writing has been on the wall for a long time but some big name software companies are slow to adapt, and even if they adapted you'll probably have to pay good money for a new license. Take Mathematica for example. The first 64-bit version is 12.0, released April 2019. So a year-old permanent v11 license is useless on Catalina now. It would have cost me a couple hundred bucks to upgrade my v9 permanent license if I didn't happen to have an institutional license.
  - thenewnewguy 7y ago
    Sounds like you ought to get mad at Mathematica for selling 32bit MacOS software in 2019, which it's been well known for over a decade that support will eventually be dropped.
    - mod50ack 7y ago
      Hardly been "well known for over a decade". A decade ago, Rosetta was well-supported. The dropping of Rosetta support in Lion was quasi-abrupt, but understandable (it arose from a licensing concern after the tech was acquired). The 32/64 transition was announced a few years ago, but it was hardly something known a decade ago.
      - dylan604 7y ago
        The history of Apple suggests that when they come out with a new development environment, it is well advised to just go ahead an make that switch as soon as possible. Even if they make a bandaid type of stepping stone like Rosetta, don't lean on it permanently. Adobe had to skip an entire version of their software suite because they didn't believe Apple was serious.

scarface74 7y ago

Why would Apple cafe if you run Windows on the Mac?

IggleSniggle 7y ago
It weakens your incentive to buy a Mac the next time you purchase a computer if you find yourself forced into a different OS anyway.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Apple has been offering solutions to run Windows apps for over two decades. First they bundled SoftWindows with early PPC Macs, then they offered hardware Intel daughtercards and they have been bundling Boot Camp since shortly after the Intel Macs were introduced. There is very little important software outside of iOS development software that is Mac only. People who care about backwards compatibility would never buy Macs.
  - wayoutthere 7y ago
    > There is very little important software outside of iOS development software that is Mac only. So true; it feels like every Mac app is Electron these days.

andai 7y ago

Could some of the wizardry described here be used to get native 32-bit software working again?

blablabla123 7y ago
Not sure how long this would work but the trick is to copy the 32 bit shared libraries over: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/374038 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/374038 It's apparently straightforward to install - an old - macOS in a VM. This can then be used to obtain the dylibs
tempodox 7y ago
As I understand it, this would only be possible if you recompiled the software with the modified Clang they use for the Windows apps (and the underlying tech is in a state of flux). I'm not sure that would be more expedient than rebuilding your app as 64-bit.
saagarjha 7y ago
The system frameworks you’d depend on don’t have a 32-bit slice anymore, unfortunately. You’d need to wrap every function in a think to make things work.
- CodeWriter23 7y ago
  > You’d need to wrap every function in a think to make things work. I think you meant “thunk”.
  - Stratoscope 7y ago
    The unthinkable has been thunk. Who'd a thunk it?
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    I did but AutoCorrect unfortunately thunk differently.

dewey 7y ago

The writing that 32bit apps are going away was on the wall for a long time. If you still rely on that (maybe for some enterprise application) then you are probably not going to upgrade to the newest version right away anyway. It’s like removing the floppy drive, there will be a bunch of people complaining (probably the 1%) who still use it but in the end everyone is better of without it and it will be replaced by something better. Almost nobody of the general users would know a difference between 32 / 64 bit as they just use new apps or use web apps. It’s a very small group that’s affected by this change.

oefrha 7y ago
The writing has been on the wall for a long time but some big name software companies are slow to adapt, and even if they adapted you'll probably have to pay good money for a new license. Take Mathematica for example. The first 64-bit version is 12.0, released April 2019. So a year-old permanent v11 license is useless on Catalina now. It would have cost me a couple hundred bucks to upgrade my v9 permanent license if I didn't happen to have an institutional license.
- thenewnewguy 7y ago
  Sounds like you ought to get mad at Mathematica for selling 32bit MacOS software in 2019, which it's been well known for over a decade that support will eventually be dropped.
  - mod50ack 7y ago
    Hardly been "well known for over a decade". A decade ago, Rosetta was well-supported. The dropping of Rosetta support in Lion was quasi-abrupt, but understandable (it arose from a licensing concern after the tech was acquired). The 32/64 transition was announced a few years ago, but it was hardly something known a decade ago.
    - dylan604 7y ago
      The history of Apple suggests that when they come out with a new development environment, it is well advised to just go ahead an make that switch as soon as possible. Even if they make a bandaid type of stepping stone like Rosetta, don't lean on it permanently. Adobe had to skip an entire version of their software suite because they didn't believe Apple was serious.