Thread

1. neuroelectron · 1791148316 · focus · HN ↗

   Not a lot of good reasons to upgrade to 27. They removed Rosetta and you have to reinstall that if you want it. So is MacOS turning into something that more regular people are going to have to maintain in the future or end up with something like Windows 11?

   I switched to MacOS 3 years ago because of Microsoft and the writing on the wall seems to say I got another year left before I'm forced into Linux. Because if I have to maintain my own OS then I might as well install Linux and do it once.

   1. halJordan · 1791148536 · focus · HN ↗

      If a temporary tool being retired is the reason you switch, then wait until you find out how many LOC are being deleted from the linux kernel this year and next

      1. jonathanstrange · 1791149305 · focus · HN ↗

         It's not a temporary tool for people who need it.

         1. 2muchcoffeeman · 1791150516 · focus · HN ↗

            The alternative is maintaining backwards compatibility forever and then everyone will complain about some weird behaviour that still happens to retain that compatibility.

            Keep in mind this is the second time they have switched arches and the second round of complaints of Rosetta removal.

            1. idontwantthis · 1791151032 · focus · HN ↗

               I think they have a lot more reason to keep it around this time. PowerPC was a dead-end and x86 is most definitely sticking around.
            2. jonathanstrange · 1791153686 · focus · HN ↗

               Exactly, I remember getting similar replies - though probably on /. then - when the PPC emulator was removed, there are always some people eager to ridicule the idea and portray it as not being feasible. But it is. It is perfectly doable for a company like Apple with a net worth around $4.87 trillion and would probably take less disk space then the AI models their customers now try to remove because they don't need them. As ridiculous as this may sound to the naysayers, I desire very much for an operating system to keep backwards compatibility forever, it can be done and would be very useful for many people.

               I didn't want the PPC emulator removed and I don't want the x86 emulator to be removed either. If that makes me a weirdo, so be it.

               1. 2muchcoffeeman · 1791160126 · focus · HN ↗

                  I’m not saying it’s not feasible. See Windows. The effort that Microsoft put into backwards compatibility was incredible. But it’s also questionable.

                  Even a good emulator might fix bugs that some piece of software relied on.

                  It’s certainly a shame if they got rid of Rosetta forever so hopefully it’s still available as an optional download.

            3. dwaite · 1791175408 · focus · HN ↗

               Third switch. 68000 series to PPC to Intel to Apple Silicon.

               Now that they have stopped supporting Intel-based Macs, I understand the desire to not have to port new code and features to x86-64 to keep legacy apps happy.

               That is why Intel-based Mac App support is going away, but Rosetta 2 as infrastructure will remain - a much smaller footprint of system functionality will be addressable by x86-64 code that they can reasonably maintain going forward.

               That's actually better than where I thought we would be now - I thought by M6 they would remove the hardware extensions that allow Rosetta 2 function from Apple Silicon.

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