Apple Confirms Mojave is the Last macOS Release to Support 32-Bit Apps

[jdiamond]

Just as the situation on iOS, there's no excuse for Apple to not supply a simple emulator like they did in the Rosetta days. Most of these older apps don't require high performance. And since modern Intel chips don't actually support 32-bit assembly anymore, Apple is ALREADY using this technology.

This is as much Apple's fault as anyone's - for one single year (2006) they had one single model of Mac that used a 32-bit (only) Intel chip. (Why didn't they wait?) After that, all Intel Macs were 64-bits. But to be compatible with that one year of systems, developers took the easier way out and have made their apps 32-bits ever since. Even Adobe. And while some may mock this, I will be losing 100% of my Mac games in this transition. Software can be sentimental. Guess I'll start researching how to use VMWare to create an earlier version of the OS.

 

[gnasher729]

It would be nice if Apple released a version of Sierra that users could legally run in VirtualBox.

I think you can, as long as it runs on a Mac.
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What makes you say that? AFAIK all macOS since Lion (10.7) can be run in a virtual machine legally.

As long as the virtual machine runs on a Mac.
[doublepost=1539524321][/doublepost]

MacOS on ARM is going to suck so bad. And there will be no Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field to mesmerize the Fanboys anymore into believing it's so much faster. That is when people will start gradually switching back to Winblows and Android sadly.

MacOS on ARM would be just fine. App developers can port their apps to ARM in minutes unless they have been using Intel assembler code which very few developers would do, so there will be no slow emulation. And if you look at the AnandTech report about the latest iPhones, that hardware is pretty amazing. 2x2.5 GHz plus 4x1.5 GHz processors. Massive caches and I mean massive, even compared to current Intel processors. Not quite right for an iMac Pro (but you can buy a 32 core ARM processor, just not quite suitable for an iPhone); for a MacBook Pro it would be a decent replacement.
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What's a DVD player good for?

Playing DVDs?

 

[throAU]

Just as the situation on iOS, there's no excuse for Apple to not supply a simple emulator like they did in the Rosetta days. Most of these older apps don't require high performance. And since modern Intel chips don't actually support 32-bit assembly anymore, Apple is ALREADY using this technology.

This is as much Apple's fault as anyone's - for one single year (2006) they had one single model of Mac that used a 32-bit (only) Intel chip. (Why didn't they wait?) After that, all Intel Macs were 64-bits. But to be compatible with that one year of systems, developers took the easier way out and have made their apps 32-bits ever since. Even Adobe. And while some may mock this, I will be losing 100% of my Mac games in this transition. Software can be sentimental. Guess I'll start researching how to use VMWare to create an earlier version of the OS.

The writing has been on the wall for about 9 years that 32 bit is on the way out.

If you need to run 32 bit apps, spin up a 32 bit capable macOS in Fusion, Virtualbox, or Parallels.

In the meantime, removing the 32 bit run time reduces bloat and security vulnerability threat surface for everybody else who DOESN'T need 32 bit applications.

 

[biffuz]

modern Intel chips don't actually support 32-bit assembly anymore

What the---
I don't---
I can't---
For the--
Is he---

Ok, you really want to delete that part, before you end up in EVERY programmers' meme on Facebook.
Seriously.

 

[throAU]

MacOS on ARM would be just fine. App developers can port their apps to ARM in minutes unless they have been using Intel assembler code which very few developers would do, so there will be no slow emulation. And if you look at the AnandTech report about the latest iPhones, that hardware is pretty amazing. 2x2.5 GHz plus 4x1.5 GHz processors. Massive caches and I mean massive, even compared to current Intel processors. Not quite right for an iMac Pro (but you can buy a 32 core ARM processor, just not quite suitable for an iPhone); for a MacBook Pro it would be a decent replacement.

Additionally, i believe that app store uploads include the intermediate llvm bytecode that apple can use to recompile app store apps for new platforms. INDEPENDENTLY of the developer.

Pretty sure that is true for iOS, not 100% on macOS, but it is something they could easily turn on.