Yeah agreed. Wonder if this next decade will see either Windows or MacOS go fully open source.
Based on the current track record, I'd bet on Windows, but it might not be technically possible to open source everything due to third-party parts. Fun fact: Windows source is already available to governments under the Government Security Program.
I can see Windows maybe just going to a linux base. But the important part for them to open source would be details for .exe executables. This is something I see them not open-sourcing. You'll be able to run .exes on linux, but only if your on the 'Windows' distro. That is at least my take.
The details of Windows executables are all well documented and open - it's very easy to parse a windows executable and run it. The part that's missing to run it without Windows is the implementation of system calls and system libraries. Without those the executable will run into dependencies that you are missing. This is the whole reason for things like WINE - the executables are easy, but the runtime environment that Microsoft hasn't opened up is hard.
Most probably not. I don't see the reasoning behind this, why would either of them do that?
Never? Why would it?
What are we going to do, run it on knockoff M1 processors?
M1 processors are AArch64 so there is a chance one could build a modern hackintosh on top of a non-M1 AArch64 processor.
AArch64 with a lot of Apple specific ad ons, doubt it will ever be hakintoshed.
Fair point, I can see why Apple wouldn't want that! That said, do you want macOS to go open source?
I am not the person you answered to on the previous comment just added a comment on the M1 having a common Instruction Set Architecture. (AArch64)
I don't care if macOS goes open source since I have none of Apple's hardware and I am quite happy with my NixOS setup.
Mac hardware is good, so it going open source would make it possible for you to use it with linux without reverse engineering efforts
Ah, but the only necessary bits are the hardware firmware not macOS itself.