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by easton 1733 days ago
Hypervisor.framework (and Virtualization.framework) in macOS run a Apple written hypervisor. This hypervisor implements VirtIO for its devices and can run macOS VMs (with full graphics and hardware acceleration, at least on the M1). One could conclude that it was implemented this way to allow compatibility for macOS on different hypervisors (and also so that Linux would just work on theirs).

Speculation: I would be surprised if there isn’t a team internally working on a stripped down variant of macOS (or just Darwin + drivers?) designed for deployment as a server so that they can drop a bunch of racks of Mac Minis (or, with budget, some kind of blade arrangement with a Apple Silicon chip on it) into a datacenter and build a huge build farm (using VMs to run iOS and macOS, or jails if they ever get some kind of container setup). It would be dramatically better than having to manage x86 and all that extra bloat of average servers once you got through the growing pains. And they could guarantee security way better.
1 comments
eptcyka 1733 days ago
I think Apple's silicon runs a very high margin, I imagine. Will the savings from running datacenters on their own silicon be big enough to offset the lost opportunity of selling more M1?
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liamwire 1733 days ago
I don’t think the demand curve is matching supply at this point, and the processors, while powerful, will be outdated in a relatively short timeframe. Utilising them in a build farm would be one way to put any excess to good use.
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ngcc_hk 1733 days ago
And for Trillion dollar firm a way to get into a big and never touched now business. The Apple server and business object aside, the m1 might be a good line of business to try. This is particular so now Apple is not controlled by intel on their product development.

The next will be the gpu market.

No need to do the extreme just the one that can handle normal server load, flight simulator, even just 2k AA game.

Someone is doing the market analysis (not selling but real market segment under analysis), really what market one can hold the trillion dollar company.

I am not sure they can do Apple car which is mainly about hydrogen or electron capacity. But server and game …

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foobiekr 1732 days ago
unless apple has an M1 that can address more than 16GB, this isn't happening.
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