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I want to know what this does to Docker/HyperKit. If we lose the ability to run Docker on ARM macs, that will mean hundreds of mac users in IT at my company alone will migrate to something else. I would expect this would bork a large percentage of engineers developing for any modern cloud tech stack. In my case, I'll go back to linux. I enjoy linux, but being pushed out of the glistening walled garden of the Apple ecosystem on my laptop is going to sting a lot. I know Apple makes a lot more money from their non-pro market, but it sucks how they've been systematically dismantling so many of their offerings tailored towards pros.

You can certainly run Docker on ARM, but similarly to Docker on x86, it will use the ARM-Linux kernel, so your images will need to based on ARM-Linux.
 
Is it me or everyone didn't read the post?

All it means is that Parallels for example will have to write an ARM version of their app. It doesn't mean virtualising Windows x86 or x86_64 on ARM is impossible.

The OS running on the VM will still need to be ARM. If you move into emulation, then that's a significant drag on performance, and potentially opens you up to litigation.

It's time for Windows VM users to fully commit to the Mac.
 
Unless things have changed. the macOS app development team is not in Redmond. Microsoft has a decent size campus in Mountain View, CA . Just down the highway 85 from Apple.

As far as Windows goes, that is somewhat backwards. It Apple's job to get hardware specific drivers to Microsoft for Windows. It is not Microsoft's job to chase after deviations from standards of each and every hardware vendor. Apple and Microsoft will need to work out a signed authentication key/code for the finished app but Microsoft has their own ARM systems ( Surface X publically) and the vast bulk of Windows on ARM development will be done on those.
So, you are saying Apple has the source code to the build Windows and the Windows engineering team is entirely in California, the same team I meet with almost every year on the Redmond campus for sessions in spring? 🙄
 
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So, you are saying Apple has the source code to the build Windows and the Windows engineering team is entirely in California, the same team I meet with almost every year on the Redmond campus for sessions in spring? 🙄
He’s saying that the Microsoft employees who are responsible for developing Microsoft software that runs on macs are located in Mountain View, California.
 
Apple did say, clearly, that they will be releasing Intel-based Macs "for years to come", so for those that absolutely require native x86-64 compatibility, the Intel platform will remain available. What's the problem?

Not quite; they said they would release *software* updates for intel Macs for years (>= 2) to come. Not significantly upgraded Intel-based Mac hardware.

I would expect to see a couple of minor CPU refreshes in the next 2 years, but once a model has an ARM-based equivalent, the Intel version will cease production. After this, expect 3-5 years of MacOS support - maybe a bit longer.
 
Not quite; they said they would release *software* updates for intel Macs for years (>= 2) to come. Not significantly upgraded Intel-based Mac hardware.

I would expect to see a couple of minor CPU refreshes in the next 2 years, but once a model has an ARM-based equivalent, the Intel version will cease production. After this, expect 3-5 years of MacOS support - maybe a bit longer.
 
Intel already produces several ARM Cortex-based processors.


For sure. One of the biggest Mac developers in the world is the Microsoft MBU (Mac Business Unit). The two companies are on friendlier terms than a lot of people think.
When Craig mentioned our friends at Microsoft, I admired that. The days of the jihad like rivalry between both has kinda past. It’s obvious some seriously strict NDA was signed to give Microsoft early access to compile Office for Mac with even PowerPoint using metal for the graphics and animations.
This is exactly why I believe Apple will work with Microsoft to bring Windows to Apple silicon. I just think it will take time partly because of could Microsoft will need a lab to build it and access to resources from Apple and of course engineer compilers to target it. Also, the aim will be about making Windows sing on it too while also enticing a library of applications for it. Having just Windows 10 and Office 365 is not enough. But potentially getting Windows on it will be strategic for pro apps from say AutoDesk, Quark, Intuit and many more to come on board and return build better macOS apps too. To put it simply, symbiotic, unified code bases leading to more powerful apps that become independent from Intel in the long wring.
 
I will miss macOS, but at this point I can get a similar experience (for most of what I need, anyway) on an x86 "Windows" laptop running a modern Linux distro. Wine can pretty much meet my Windows needs nowadays. The other main reason I went to Mac originally was Adobe, but I've been cutting Adobe out of my life since they went subscription only.

Who knows, though, this 2015 MacBook Pro might still run for another half decade - we'll see who the remaining major players are when this finally bites the big one.

Could you provide a recommendation as to what Linux distro might offer the best user experience? KDE or Gnome?
I need something like QuickLook in my daily workflow. I have a large collection of OmniGraffle files that are rather detailed. What would be a good alternative for professional PDF processing?
 
I ran Microsoft Remote Desktop on my iPad Pro a few weeks ago for fun and connected to my Windows 10 Desktop as a test and it worked great. So considering this is basically the same processor I see know reason why that solution won't work.

Well, you should certainly be able to connect an ARM-Mac to a *different* Windows machine via Remote Desktop, which is what you did with your iPad. I think people are asking if they can run Windows on the *same* (ARM-based) Mac computer. Virtualization won't work because the host and guest VM need to use the same processor architecture (e.g. both ARM or both x86). Emulation is the only solution AFAIK.
 
Well, I suppose I’ll buy an XPS or a Thinkpad X1 Extreme when my MBP 16 comes out of service.

That sucks. But there’s just no way any of the apps I need are going to be rewritten for ARM, most of them don’t even exist for MacOS, but I get by with Bootcamp or VMWare Fusion.

I know a lot of other fellow engineers of various types will feel my pain here.

What about running a cheap, headless little PC somewhere and just RDPing in when you need a Windows app? I did that for years when I still had a few apps I needed to use that required Windows. I just tucked an old HP laptop in a closet and ran that for years. It worked great.
 
Can’t Parallels and VMware update their apps for apple silicone?
They should be able too. All this is saying is that Rosetta will not support x86 virtualization.

“That means Apple's future Macs with Apple-designed chips will not natively support running current versions of software like VMWare or Parallels to run x86 Windows within the virtualization software. Other native solutions may appear, but will require efforts from 3rd party developers.”
 
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Probably more realism. You have to understand how to grow and nurture an eco-system. If Macs are not used by developers in general then the platform quickly becomes forgotten. x86 Linux virtualization is the key and primary method that developers use Macs for but if you erode that then they will look elsewhere. Windows + WSL is now a go to developer platform as Apple with ARM Macs have castrated developers to creative ability. Without your upcoming developers then your platform does die. Look at history.

Couple of points:

1) Why is x86 Linux virtualization "key"? If you just need a development platform, what is wrong with ARM Linux? (assuming you are not developing x86 Linux native apps).

2) A lot of development is moving to cloud platforms. I use AWS EC2 instances as my Linux sandbox. It only costs a couple of cents to run per hour, and performance is just as good as a local VM provided you have a good internet connection. I used to run VMs all the time....now I don't even bother. DevOps pipelines (for most customers I work with) are all on Cloud services, even if those that eventually target on-prem production instances.
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Spin up a free azure account and run windows in there for 30 days. :D

Or get an AWS account free for 1 year...just create a new one each year and get a 24x7x365 VM for nada.

Even if you have to pay for it, AWS EC2 instances start at 1 cent per hour.
 
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I don't think Windows on ARM supports 64-bit apps yet (or itself runs as a 64-bit app), so this is probably a no-go on the Apple chips. This move may spur Microsoft on to improve Windows for ARM.

To be more precise, Window on ARM can't run emulated x86_64 Windows application, only 32-bit apps. So a Windows-ARM VM could run on an ARM-Mac with a hypervisor such as Parallels, but it wouldn't run 64-bit Windows x86 apps, and given the lack of Windows-ARM apps, the whole thing may not very useful. The 32-bit Windows apps would be running as emulations running on Windows-ARM inside a VM...doesn't sound like it would be a good experience!
 
No VMs and BootCamp on ARM-based Mac product lines. Okay then, I think I'll keep my Intel MacBook as long as possible just for the sake of my Parallels in it.
And when the time has come, I think it would be better to settle on iPad + Windows laptop combo to get the best of both world.

It seems so weird but for the first time since the PowerBook days, I know that I have purchased my last Mac. I’ve had MacBook Pros, MacBooks, Mac Pros, and most recently a Mini.

The Mini will keep me going for some years and allow for me to complete the transition. I accidentally started moving away when the Mac Pro was neglected. Catalina wiped away support for a number of apps. Now necessary Windows VM support is going to be history.
 
I think people are a bit too optimistic about the potential performance of any 3rd party emulation software that might allow you to 'run' windows X86_64 on ARM Macs to be honest. It isn't like virtualisation where the VM speaks the same language as the CPU, here the software has to translate everything from Intel CISC to the Apple /ARM RISC so there is extra overhead and delay. There is also the small problem of any on chip extras that are present on Intel but not on ARM and I doubt any windows graphics drivers.

EDIT: Before I sound like Dr Doom I don't think it will really affect Apple in the longer term as although a few might leave the system most won't. I already run my Windows stuff on a windows desktop as to be honest I love gaming and for gaming it is the best platform, I also use it for my always on VMs so the Mac is free of clutter. Obviously that won't be everyone but there will be options for most.
 
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Maybe it‘s not so bad, with iOS compatibility coming. Granted, most iOS games aren‘t long, complex AAA-experiences, and those which are, are ports of older games which are already available on the mac (e.g. San Andreas, KOTOR, CiV 6). But here‘s hoping that it could also work a little the other way round with the mac being the reason of bigger games getting ported to the unified eco-system.

I think I can count the number of iOS games I really miss on my computers on one hand. Not sure if I need any fingers on it.
 
Could you provide a recommendation as to what Linux distro might offer the best user experience? KDE or Gnome?
I need something like QuickLook in my daily workflow. I have a large collection of OmniGraffle files that are rather detailed. What would be a good alternative for professional PDF processing?

Well, first you need to understand that in my "day job" I'm working with Linux servers much of the time, so my #1 priority for my desktop is a useful terminal window and a text editor! I'm not doing much of anything with producing PDFs, so I'm the wrong guy to ask there.

A lot of people like Inkscape, but I have no idea how you'd get stuff from OmniGraffle into it. Again, I'm not the guy to ask. My general approach for "replacement programs on Linux" has been to download a bunch of them, try each one for a week or two and see what meets my needs best. There's always the options of migrating to a cloud-based tool like LucidCharts, since those are more or less platform-agnostic.

I'm less of a Gnome fan than I used to be, but I still prefer it to KDE. Back when I was running desktop Linux regularly (more than a decade ago), I actually preferred Enlightenment over anything else... but that's never going to be a set-it-and-forget-it option for people. The nice thing about Linux, though, is you can install and try all these different window managers out yourself, and even switch back and forth... as long as you've got the disk space to install all their dependencies.

QuickLook - Gnome apparently has a tool called Sushi which provides this functionality in Nautilus. Not something I've used on a server, though, and it didn't exist back when I was using Gnome with any frequency.

There's also the option of running specific Windows software that does what you want, via Wine. The Codeweavers folks have helped Wine take great strides with regards to Windows app compatibility.
 
Solution:
1. Buy a Synology/QNAP/etc. NAS, or use FreeNAS to run a VM on capable NAS hardware and install Microsoft (or other) RDP Client on ARMac.
2. Run enterprise class firewall like pfSense with IPSec VPN if need remote access.

Advantages:
1. Reduces client disk space
2. VM snapshots are limited only by the capacity of the NAS
3. Number of simultaneous VMs limited only by the NAS hardware
4. One VM setup for ALL clients (iOS, iPadOS, Mactel/ARMac, Windows, Linux, etc.)
5. Great for occasional use Windows apps
6. Can run VMs and macOS side-by-side
7. No dual boot required (Bootcamp)
8. No need to install VM host software (VMWare, VirtualBox, etc.)
9. You can do it this way now and not wait for ARMac's. (I have been doing it this way for 5+ years)

Disadvantages:
1. Not suited for graphics intensive applications (just go buy a Wintel machine)
2. Uses network bandthwidth (just go buy a Wintel machine)
3. Not the same performance as client based Host+Guest (just go buy a Wintel machine)
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That’s probably why Apple made a point of saying they would support running Linux in virtualization.

My guess is Microsoft was not "ready" to make an announcement on Window 10 for ARM running in a ARMac VM, thus Apple was only able to show Linux running in a VM.
 
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No chance. Apple can only get way with it because of the small market they have.. Windows businesses would freak out .... It would be like Dooms-day is here. Pretty much most businesses noways run VM's ..

Completely different scenarios.

Apple is migrating - AKA "you have to use ARM. In just a short time, we'll never release another Intel computer again, and they will run out of support sooner or later.".

Microsoft would not migrate. They would just improving support for one architecture (ARM) to make that more useful than it currently is, they would not sunset/obsolete x86_64.
 
All this means is , Rosetta code translation software will not transform virtualisation instructions

anybody or any company can build virtualisation software that runs on ARM. So we will see a native version that translates x86 of parallels and possibly VMware. If not somebody will do. They cannot stop people building software they need, they might choose their design on their own

soyou can keep selling your macs you will still be able to virtualise x86, one way or another
 
All this means is , Rosetta code translation software will not transform virtualisation instructions

anybody or any company can build virtualisation software that runs on ARM. So we will see a native version that translates x86 of parallels and possibly VMware. If not somebody will do. They cannot stop people building software they need, they might choose their design on their own

soyou can keep selling your macs you will still be able to virtualise x86, one way or another
Those aren't virtualisation products, they're emulation products. Bytecode emulation is significantly slower than virtualisation as it cannot be hardware assisted.
 
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