These paragraphs from AppleInsider somewhat worried me:
“Where there could be a huge change, though, is in Rosetta 2. This only affects Apple Silicon Macs, but it is how those are able to run older Intel-based apps.
During the beta period, Apple suggested that the function may be removed — if not entirely, then at least in certain countries and territories. That last point is making it hard to determine whether there has yet been any removal of it.“
I don’t think I’ll be upgrading my M1 MacBook Pro just yet. Perhaps some brave soul will let me know if FileMaker still runs after the upgrade.
I can’t believe they’d make this move until they have finished their migration programme.
LOL, originally I typed 13.5, so at least I got the post decimal point right. Been a rough day. Had to recover yet another FileMaker Server 19 crash today, our main SBA server again. This is now being reported on macOS, Windows and CentOS..
Like @MonkeybreadSoftware said, I believe the possibility of removal of Rosetta is because of potential legal issues just in case. Not that it would be removed in near future.
I've been using M1 MacBook Pro for couple of weeks and been happily surprised that everything I use daily has worked well. FileMaker (18 & 19), PHPStorm, VSCode, Docker etc. Got my intel mbp ready to be a backup but no need yet. In practice cannot see the difference in performance but for sure can hear the difference (or lack of fan noise).
@villegld if your experience is the same as mine, having been using the M1 MacBook Pro since they became available, try to sell your Intel MacBook Pro as soon as possible. My 2019 MacBook Air hasn’t been touched since moving to the Apple Silicon Mac and I need to advertise it.
I cannot believe the speed of Parallels 16 running Windows for Arm which allows all my old copies of FileMaker to be run. The weakest part of this is the preview version of Windows for Arm and its x64 emualation.
Christian has said that he’s been able to run FileMaker Pro 17 on his M1 Mac, but we’ve not been able to go back further than FileMaker 18, as v17 crashes as soon as layout mode is selected. However, I haven’t tried this since the early days.
I would go as far to say that Rosetta 2 is far better than the original Rosetta during the PowerPC to Intel switch.
Intel must not be pleased by the news that software running on its processors could run on different processors altogether (let alone any performance & energy consumption comparison). One can only think they will attempt to defend that turf. What will come out of it? Litigation can be a very lengthy process, both Apple and Intel know about that.
Google and Oracle battled it out since 2010 and the USA supreme court recently issued a decision ruling in favor of Google. That said, Google was risking having to backpay Oracle some crazy amounts of money.
Something similar could be at play between Apple and Intel. I think it would be best for each party to settle between them, maybe with something where Apple would agree to pay royalties for each computer they sell that can run Rosetta 2. That said, a settlement probably won't happen before both companies "flex their legal muscles".
If any of that is ongoing, I'm afraid we will not be getting any public statement either from Apple or Intel anytime soon.
This is interesting. With rumours that Microsoft are reportedly designing their own ARM-based chips and are currently running 64-bit emulation on the Windows preview edition I’m using, I wonder whether they could find themselves in a similar position? Also, Windows virtualisation was commercially available on Macs running PowerPC (albeit very badly), so there is a precedent.
That may be the case, but I think Intel will be building their case around patents they have put in place since. People could make that comparison, but I am uncertain it would have much legal value.
Interesting directions being taken though. Considering the close relationship between Microsoft and Intel to date. Perhaps Intel will make the Microsoft Arm chips (1 inch thick😂)