> why bother?

I wonder the same thing, but from an ideological perspective.

Why should the free software community promote Apple hardware by making it more accessible to OSS enthusiasts, when Apple only cares about OSS when it directly benefits them? Apple makes great hardware, but they're actively hostile to everything free software stands for. If Apple cared about this user base, they would work on this themselves.

That said, from a technical standpoint, this is nothing short of impressive, so kudos to the team. I can't even imagine the dedication and patience required to work on this project.