[wyre]

What does this mean for software companies whose consumer base is largely on OSX? Will Adobe, Sony, Avid, etc have to port their library of software over to Apple's new ARM architecture?

Will this allow for greater freedom with ARM devices not running new OSX?

It seems like Apple lately has very much internalized 'if you build it, they will come' even though it seems like it is heavily alienating their professional user base.

[egypturnash]

One would hope that after making both of the previous Mac CPU migrations, Adobe has all the CPU-specific stuff in their codebases well-charted, and is already playing with beta hardw— no what am I saying, I’ve been using Adobe stuff for twenty years now and they’ve only gotten less nimble over time, I don’t expect to even see a build for the beta test program until at least a year and a half after ARM Macs are on the market.

Maybe I’ll get an Arm Air in ‘22. My 2017 Pro should still be viable until then for what I do.

[scarface74]

You act as if this is the first time that Apple has done a transition or the first time that the aforementioned companies have made the transition.

Each of them have made the transition from 68K -> PPC -> OS X -> x86.

[wyre]

I only know about the transition to x86 and from what I remember the benefit was the same architecture as Windows. Since them OSX has gained a lot of market share. Moving to ARM is definitely a step backwards in that regard. I don't know anything about the previous transitions.

I don't think transitioning to ARM is a bad choice given the benefits, but a lot of serious (and casual) users are going to be very unhappy their programs aren't going to work after dropping $1k+ on a new computer.

[scarface74]

The Mac was already on an upward trajectory before the x86 transition. OS X hasn’t really gained that much marketshare. Besides the “beleaguered years”, Macs have historically trended at around 10% market share. They actually had more marketshare in the early 90s before Windows 95.

Apple has done this three times if you include the Apple //e transition. Each time they brought customer’s along.

The first transition from 68K to PPC, almost all of their revenue came from Macs. The second time about half (the other half was iPods). Now it’s less than 10%. It’s much less risky this time.

[DeathArrow]

I doubt Adobe's largest consumer base is on macOS. Of course Adobe and any other software maker won't be happy, but if it's worth it, they'll target macOS on ARM. Some software companies might decide it isn't worth the hassle.

[flqn]

I'm wondering if they'll have some solution similar to Rosetta