Huh. I suppose it’s a good thing I never came around to migrating our team from docker desktop to Orbstack, even though it seems like they pioneered a lot of the Apple implementation perks…
License aside, though, I would still bet that relying on the Apple-specific version of something like this will cause headaches for teams unless you're operating in an environment that's all-in on Apple. Like, your CI tooling in the cloud runs on a Mac, that degree of vendor loyalty. I've never seen any shop like that.
Plus when this tooling does have interoperability bugs, I do not trust Apple to prioritize or even notice the needs of people like me, and they're the ones in charge of the releases.
Presumably it's not as good right now but where it ends up depends entirely on Apple's motivation. When they are determined they can build very good things.
As opposed to that, there's OrbStack, a venture-backed closed source application thriving off of user licenses, developed by a small team. As empathetic as I am with them, I know where I bet my money on in this race.
Orbstack started out as one kid with a passion for reducing the suffering of the masses, and from day 1 he was relentless about making the experience as smooth as possible, even for the weirdos like me (e.g. I have a very elaborate ssh config). He was very careful and thoughtful about choosing a monetisation model that wouldn't hinder people exactly like him - passionate hackers on a shoestring budget.
Yeah, it's now venture-backed. I'm not concerned, as long as Danny is in charge.