Uhm… I suppose they could. NeXT actually did this - remember macOS is based on NeXTSTEP. They had this “PC board” which was basically a graphics card but with a PC on it, and then you could run your PC apps on it. So macOS can probably still do this, but I don’t think it would be a very popular product. Neither was the NeXTSTEP nor that addin board.
Fun fact: DOOM was made this way. Carmack was using a NeXTSTEP with a PC add in board and then there were some physical PC’s to the side. But since consumers couldn’t afford those crazy computers they never ported the game to NeXTSTEP. So they built it on a NeXT computer, but it couldn’t run on a NeXT computer. Pretty weird really, but a very good business decision also.
I mean if ARM is better than x86 then both intel and amd and OS makers should to switch. And motherboard manufacturers to integrate idk low power quad core x86? for legacy compatibility.
The biggest problem at the moment is stepping away from x86 for the PC marketplace, Apple has the benefit of a closed ecosystem, so they can ensure every app (or at least most) are compatible with the new silicon, Windows has no way of ensuring that some application made in house by a company will work with ARM.
Another smaller but relevant issue in the gaming space is that there are no non x86 DIY parts at the moment, at least that I’m aware of, a lot of gamers like to build their own PCs or buy a premade that looks like they built it, keeping x86 alive, and in turn, reducing the desire to build games for ARM.
Once we get more popular products on ARM, Apple might well find they have a gaming machine, as developers can once again port software far more easily from Windows to Mac.
In order to understand this you have to understand what I mentioned earlier. Like way earlier, you weren’t here then: The Wintel loop.
Windows is popular with gamers because the games are on Windows, and the games are on Windows because the gamers are on Windows - and this cycle self-perpetuates and has been doing that for the last 30 years or so.
But here’s the same thing: The exact same applies to x86. You need both to run your apps and games.
Which is why Microsoft can’t break backwards compatibility. They just can’t; every time they try they fail. They can’t make products with only ARM support because most Windows apps don’t run and then you just have… Windows. And nobody wants Windows! They want all the apps for Windows.
Same thing with Linux - gamers don’t want Linux because it can’t run their games, even if it’s x86.
The PC is basically completely beholden to the x86 and Windows architecture, or Windows-Intel. WinTel.
So that’s why. The CoPilot+ PC’s were in fact an attempt to switch to ARM, and it’s great! You get way better battery life. But your apps don’t work.
Apple made Rosetta 2, and Microsoft are trying to copy it and it’s mostly working but not quite. So that’s where we are.
Macintoshes are not closed to 3rd party apps. Macintoshes are open. You can even boot Linux on them, and that’s on purpose. You can write and run any application. As long as it’s written to take advantage of the mac hardware, of course - if it’s some Windows binary that uses Vulkan, like DOOM Eternal for example, it won’t.
Apple did it by converting x86 machine code into ARM machine code and then running the program.
Mac’s are not the dominant retailer simply because Apple screwed up. They went for specific markets like video editing, audio and business. They did this very well but they weren’t interested in focussing on the everything that PC’s did from the start. And gaming certainly wasn’t a priority by any means.
This has all been explained already, and we all acknowledge that Apple are now trying to rectify this, but it’s going to be a hard job to do it because PC’s and Windows have been the accepted standard for so long that they have the market dominance. Yes, I am suggesting that most people buy PC’s over Mac’s because they feel they have to as they are told by other PC users that they might not be able to do what they need their computer to do otherwise.
Any product can have this dominance, even if something else arrives that’s vastly superior, perhaps even cheaper, but comes along so late that it’s only the progressive public who want to give it a chance.
I would suggest now that the reason people still embrace PC’s and Windows is because they don’t know anything else, don’t like the idea of going to something new when they think they already have what they need or just don’t like the idea of change.
It would have to be something massively destructive to ruin the dominance of the common PC now. It’s just too established. Apple are trying to increase their share in the market by tapping into the games now because it’s just too big to ignore. They make their money already because everyone knows it’s rare for someone to buy a Mac and then go back to a PC afterwards. People don’t buy new computers every day, though, so new customers have to be found.
The reason I’m spouting off is because the “My computer is better than your computer” threads of yester-year were always interesting to browse until people that didn’t know any better threw their opinions into the ring just to get involved.
No slur on you intended there with that comment, by the way. I just got tired of the old “PC’s are great, Amiga’s are rubbish” threads all those years ago, posted by kids who didn’t even know what a computer was and still wanted to poke the bees nest.
So for anything newer: Not really, no. The reason the mac can is because of software called Rosetta 2. It’s a program that reads a macOS Intel binary and spits out a macOS ARM binary and then runs that instead of the original.
It’s very cool technology but it’s not going to be as fast because it’s hard to optimise the code generation.
Microsoft has this, too, but it isn’t very good and most apps crash.
The amount of games and software that works only because of a bug is insane.
This is why Windows has those “compatibility mode” dropdowns. Without it, bugfixes from newer versions break older apps which rely on the OS being buggy. xD
But the same happens on the Mac. Usually Apple just cuts off when it gets too old.
Not old games, Microsoft’s biggest application is business, and many business have custom applications using old black box apis, but still spend a lot of money on Windows licenses, that they don’t want to lose.
I will add here the difference in privacy between Microsoft and Apple is staggering, while Windows 11 uploads things to one drive without your consent, apple uses differential privacy and homorphic encryption (can’t spell that word) to ensure your privacy is protected in their AI products.
I can even make my iCloud end to end encrypted, or not use it at all, if I choose.
It’s very annoying how, on the mac, I can’t run apps that were written in the early 2000’s, and even some that were create quite recently.
For example, Homeworld Remastered is 32-bit on the Mac, and those apps don’t run.
The weirdest part of this is that the PC version, which is also 32-bit, DOES run. The reason for this is that Apple just deleted the 32-bit compatibility libraries. So Rosetta 2 supports it just fine, but you can’t use it!
Except when you combine it with Game Porting Toolkit. Then you have the 32-bit Windows libraries and Rosetta 2! So they work. It’s hysterical actually.
Games where the Windows version works on a mac but the mac version doesn’t include: Homeworld Remastered, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Left4Dead, Portal 2, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Trine 2, Age of Wonders 3, Counter-Strike, and many more.
Apple does stuff like this sometimes and it’s really weird. There was no reason to delete these.
Now of course, once the game gets old enough, you can emulate it. PowerPC apps and games now start to work on mac due to PowerPC mac emulators that are starting to get really good, like SheepShaver. But there’s this frustrating zone in the middle there, and it’s that zone which keeps WinTel going.
Microsoft’s policy of windows 10 end of support, the windows 11 pushing ads and intrusive anti-privacy, is pushing hard customers to Linux and Mac.
With Microsft’s extremely slow transition to ARM with qualcomm, and Apple’s impressive success with apple silicone, Windows will lose a lot of customers.
To be honest I’m no Apple fanboy, I’ve been using Windows for several decades, however their approach to private computing in a cloud world is very refreshing.
That means, combined with the mac, that 4/5 computers are running Windows. That’s still very good, but it’s not exactly complete dominance, and now they’re pushing all these people into buying new computers by refusing them a Win11 upgrade and nagging them and then, even if you do upgrade, nagging and spying?
Bold strategy.
It’s not really a big threat yet, but it’s much higher than it’s ever been and if Microsoft doesn’t correct course they could be in serious trouble.
Given most people don’t play games, and their work laptop will be using the nag free enterprise version of Windows 11, the net result will just be more mobile and tablet use.
A shame, given that at one time, everyone had open computing in their home.
True, the whole app store thing on iPad’s and tablets is a big concern, and none of the three big players tried to open up their systems.
Technically Android is open, but most phone manufacturers put their own locks on it so you have to jailbreak them, which is insane. Why do our computers have “jails” in them?!
EU is trying to do the right thing here, but oh boy is it ever an uphill battle.
I’ve heard a rumor that there was one developer in Blizzard who was passionate enough about Macs that he alone maintained all Mac ports back in the day. You can tell that he left the company by the time Overwatch was released and since then new games weren’t ported to macs and old games become buggy.
Apple does not care about backwards compatibility and game companies do not care about changing their released games, so that’s kind of mismatch.
