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Comment by trixie_ | Hacker News Reader

So I guess Windows won't run on M1, so none of my Windows software/Steam games will work either. Will software developers start dropping support for Mac now that they'd need to maintain an ARM version as well? It's not clear how long Apple will support emulation with Rosetta before cutting it off. What's the Linux landscape look like for this chip? It's great that there's performance and battery life improvements, but Microsoft said the same things about WindowsRT and their move to ARM in 2012, and we know how well that turned out.

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Windows has an arm build, so I wouldn't count it out entirely.

Edit: Never-mind, it looks like they are not porting bootcamp.

Apple said that only virtualization will be supported on their ARM chips. Locked through the bootloader (although wouldn't be surprised if exploits are released to load up Linux/Windows)

Ah! You're right! No bootcamp. https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/24/21302213/apple-silicon-ma...

That blows my mind. Microsoft has had an ARM version of Windows for years. I would have thought they would have lept to support Bootcamp on these new Macs. That being said, I bought my MBP with 64GB of RAM to run Windows VM's in Parallels, but I no longer have any need to run any software that runs only under Windows. I think the market for Bootcamp is basically just gaming now, and the new consoles are really eroding the performance reasons for choosing a Windows box for that.

> That blows my mind. Microsoft has had an ARM version of Windows for years. I would have thought they would have lept to support Bootcamp on these new Macs.

Why and for who though? Yes, there is an ARM version of windows, but there is pretty much no software for it - and most of the Windows ARM software (Office?) likely has already iOS versions and will have upcoming Mac ARM versions.

I have the feeling that 99%+ of Bootcamp users use it for x86 software.

At WWDC Apple said Bootcamp usage had fallen from 15% of users down to 2%.

> That blows my mind. Microsoft has had an ARM version of Windows for years.

And people went crazy over MS trying to mandate UEFI secure boot on these systems.

Now Apple does the same... And the result? Absolute silence. A world-wide mass of Apple fans suddenly not giving a fuck.

Talk about double standards.

I am totally relying on my memory but didn't Craig Federighi say that you will be able to disable secure boot ( at WWDC either in the keynote or in an interview with MKBHD )

Yes, the boot loader is not fully locked down. It'll presumably take a while to figure out how to run other software on it, but it should definitely be possible

Even if ARM Windows was supported by Apple, none of the games have ARM versions so it wouldn't help.

I'm pretty sure they'll use the same boot chain as in iPhones/iPads where you're not allowed to replace the operating system on the device.

If I was Microsoft I'd offer some kind of Windows in the cloud for Mac users.

It's happening with Azure Virtual Desktop.

It just needs packaging in a way that doesn't require calling sales for assistance nor trying to navigate Azure.

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