I am so not looking forward to Apple leaving the x86 space behind. I really do not want to wait years for software to catch up nor leave behind the options I have today for "an improved user experience" which is just walling the desktop off too.
It literally won't matter, as Linus explained. As the infrastructure will be x86. This is what he's saying. Unless a new paradigm emerges on drastically different tech, ARM has too far to go to catch up to create an isomorphic environment where the code is created. A few tenths of a percent of mac developers won't make a jot of difference.
Not sure that's what he was saying. I understood that instead of targeting the server-market directly first, he recommends that it would be better to target the developer market first. And if it's popular there, it will naturally bubble up from there into the server market.
Sure it will take more than a few tenth of a percent of mac developers but it won't need total domination like x86 either. But just imagine if Apple really just switches its MacBook (not even the Air or Pro ones) to ARM64 that would already be millions of users. A lot of devs will at least try to compile their app for that platform for the first time. Quite some developers will be curious and get one just to test their software on it. I am pretty sure this is going to help the adoption of ARM64 way more than a slightly improved CPU or another experimental support by a cloud provider.
Personally I don't care too much about ARM64's success (although more competition would certainly be great), I am more rooting for RISC-V and I hope they follow a more developer-first strategy.
I wonder whether Apple’s arm PCs will go more the way of chrome books and ms surface laptops. Although since people that buy these are looking for significant value, it’s hard to think Apple will be successful.
And if Apple switches pro line to arm, they’ll probably lose all non iOS/macOS developers. So, good luck to them then there.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A12X