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> The only thing Apple doesn't control is third-party devs. However, when you can move three of the four wheels, the other comes along. Don't the M1 Macs come
by tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
> The only thing Apple doesn't control is third-party devs. However, when you can move three of the four wheels, the other comes along.
Don't the M1 Macs come with some performant-enough emulation system (that most people didn't consider possible) that allows you to run x86 apps? I feel like this is key to avoiding the chicken-and-egg effect.
Now that Apple has proven it to be possible, others may follow. Ultimately, users don't care about their CPU architecture, they care about being able to run their software.
If you make users choose between a new platform that promises to "soon" be able to run 80% of the software (but currently runs at best 50%) or a slower, more expensive version that runs everything, the new platform has no chance.
If the new platform can run the existing software, albeit "only" as fast as their old platform (because the advances in CPU speed make up for the emulation overhead), this huge obstacle simply disappears.
- pfranz 6y ago> Don't the M1 Macs come with some performant-enough emulation system (that most people didn't consider possible) that allows you to run x86 apps? I feel like this is key to avoiding the chicken-and-egg effect. My understanding is a major contributing factor is that Apple added Intel's memory-ordering to their Arm chips, which allows Rosetta 2 to perform so well. Being Apple, they could drop this in 2-3 years if they wanted to drop Rosetta 2 support. That's something vertical integration (and not caring so much about long-term compatibility) will get you that would be much more difficult otherwise.