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M4 Macs can't virtualise older macOS

(eclecticlight.co)
176 points Brajeshwar | 5 comments | 16 Nov 24 16:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.704s | source
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doomlaser ◴[16 Nov 24 16:38 UTC] No.42157271[source]▶
Come on, Apple. What are you doing? I was thinking just the other day that Apple should virtualize older iPhones within the latest iPhone system software, so you could seamlessly open old apps and games (32-bit, anyone?) in their own containerized environments. I can't think why they haven't added this feature for any reason other than money grubbing.

You could even customize the containers to be completely closed off from the rest of the iPhone—no contacts, no Internet access (or high security Internet access), etc.

Come on, Apple. Do something good for once. Oh and bring back the headphone jack.

-Mark

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jsheard ◴[16 Nov 24 16:51 UTC] No.42157360[source]▶
For better or worse it's never been Apples MO to keep software working forever, that's Microsoft's schtick. PPC OSX software is gone, x86-32 OSX software is gone even on hardware that could still run it natively, AArch32 iOS software is gone, and if history is any indication it's only a matter of time before x86-64 OSX software is gone too.
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TimTheTinker ◴[16 Nov 24 18:21 UTC] No.42158015[source]▶
I think it's likely x86-64 support (via Rosetta) will continue for quite some time.

Rosetta is giving Apple a competitive advantage by being able to run x86-64 binaries in VMs (Linux or maybe even Windows) at near-native speeds. This enables doing cool things like running MS SQL Server in a Docker container - which enables developing on a full local .NET stack on a Mac.

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1. hu3 ◴[16 Nov 24 19:01 UTC] No.42158377[source]▶
Maybe I'm missing something but I run SQL Server in Docker under Windows WSL2 at near native speed.

What's the competitive advantage here?

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2. easton ◴[16 Nov 24 19:28 UTC] No.42158567[source]▶
I suppose allowing developers targeting x86_64 Linux to still use Macs and the power efficiency of ARM CPUs, since I don’t think (maybe wrong) that ARM Windows machines support emulation inside WSL.

But that’s more feature parity with x86 Windows machines, not an advantage.

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3. TimTheTinker ◴[17 Nov 24 00:32 UTC] No.42160885[source]▶
How is feature parity not an advantage? If it were to be removed, the lack of it would be a disadvantage.
4. PittleyDunkin ◴[17 Nov 24 07:51 UTC] No.42162671[source]▶
Using macos rather than windows.
5. adamc ◴[19 Nov 24 15:22 UTC] No.42184418[source]▶
Having tried both, I would in fact say that WSL is a huge advantage for Windows over the Mac in many cases. Sure, the Mac is a *Nix, but there are lots of small differences from Linux that cause issues. WSL runs very, very well.