4 ms·

That would have to be Apple just like Bootcamp. It's not just drivers - there's also bootloader and firmware.

threeseed 6y ago
Bootcamp very much belonged to a different era where having access to Windows apps was important in particular in the enterprise space. These days everything has moved to mobile and web apps that I can't imagine they will bother investing the substantial effort to port the drivers across. Especially since Microsoft doesn't seem to take Windows RT all that seriously.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
People hacked Windows onto early Intel Macs before Apple made it official with Bootcamp!
- wolrah 6y ago
  > People hacked Windows onto early Intel Macs before Apple made it official with Bootcamp! Slightly different there though, considering that the early Intel Macs were more or less identical to contemporary PC laptops internally other than the lack of BIOS compatibility mode. Drivers would be much more challenging in this case.
skissane 6y ago
Microsoft should offer to fund the driver development – either develop the drivers themselves, or pay Apple to do it (this assumes that Apple would be willing to cooperate with either option.) Getting Windows ARM to work on Apple hardware would do a lot to build mindshare on Windows ARM and contribute to the success of Windows on the ARM platform. Microsoft needs this much more than Apple does.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  Would Apple need to cooperate in the situation where Microsoft was developing the drivers? I'm sure documentation would be helpful, but in the event that Apple doesn't give it... I don't know. Seems to me it would make sense for Microsoft anyway.
  - skissane 6y ago
    Well, they probably could reverse engineer how any Apple-specific devices work, in the absence of documentation or other assistance from Apple, but the added difficulty of doing that may put them off it. So whether Apple is willing to cooperate may be decisive in practice. I don’t think Apple would really gain anything by refusing cooperation, especially if Microsoft were willing to pay for it. Only a small number of customers will be interested in running Windows on Macs, and Apple gets just as much money from a Mac running Windows as from a Mac running macOS

Bootcamp very much belonged to a different era where having access to Windows apps was important in particular in the enterprise space. These days everything has moved to mobile and web apps that I can't imagine they will bother investing the substantial effort to port the drivers across. Especially since Microsoft doesn't seem to take Windows RT all that seriously.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

People hacked Windows onto early Intel Macs before Apple made it official with Bootcamp!

wolrah 6y ago
> People hacked Windows onto early Intel Macs before Apple made it official with Bootcamp! Slightly different there though, considering that the early Intel Macs were more or less identical to contemporary PC laptops internally other than the lack of BIOS compatibility mode. Drivers would be much more challenging in this case.

skissane 6y ago

Microsoft should offer to fund the driver development – either develop the drivers themselves, or pay Apple to do it (this assumes that Apple would be willing to cooperate with either option.) Getting Windows ARM to work on Apple hardware would do a lot to build mindshare on Windows ARM and contribute to the success of Windows on the ARM platform. Microsoft needs this much more than Apple does.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago
Would Apple need to cooperate in the situation where Microsoft was developing the drivers? I'm sure documentation would be helpful, but in the event that Apple doesn't give it... I don't know. Seems to me it would make sense for Microsoft anyway.
- skissane 6y ago
  Well, they probably could reverse engineer how any Apple-specific devices work, in the absence of documentation or other assistance from Apple, but the added difficulty of doing that may put them off it. So whether Apple is willing to cooperate may be decisive in practice. I don’t think Apple would really gain anything by refusing cooperation, especially if Microsoft were willing to pay for it. Only a small number of customers will be interested in running Windows on Macs, and Apple gets just as much money from a Mac running Windows as from a Mac running macOS