Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dlp211 3939 days ago
It will never happen. There isn't an ARM chip out there that could handle the x86 emulation needed to move off of the platform. The only reason Apple was able to move off of PowerPC is because they were able emulate the ISA on x86.
1 comments
protomyth 3939 days ago
I don't think that will be the limiting factor. I can see Apple saying the new machines will run only newly compiled software.

On that note, I get the feeling Bootcamp for ARM Macs would be interesting since it would be an ARM version of Windows.

link
mrpippy 3938 days ago
The last time Microsoft made an ARM version of interactive/desktop Windows (Windows RT for the Surface/Surface 2), it didn't support legacy Win32 apps (native or x86 emulated). It was a huge flop; Win32 apps are still the overriding reason why anyone runs Windows.

And now that Intel has gotten its act together with low-power SoCs, I don't see desktop Windows coming back to ARM any time soon.

(yes, there is Windows 10 for ARM but only for IoT platforms, it doesn't support graphical apps)

link
protomyth 3938 days ago
The Windows RT Surface was a big flop for a lot of reasons. Telling developers it had an iPad store model when the x86 version didn't was probably a bigger problem.
link