Apple's Federighi and Joswiak discuss Apple silicon, iOS 14, Big Sur and more
In what has become an annual event, Apple SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi and VP of product marketing Greg Joswiak sat down with John Gruber to discuss the new products, innovations and services announced at WWDC.
Craig Federighi on The Talk Show
As usual, Gruber goes in-depth on the event's biggest announcements, including Apple's coming transition away from Intel chips in Mac to its own custom silicon, keystone features of next-generation operating systems iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, watchOS 7, tvOS 14, user privacy and more.
The remote interview was recorded as a special WWDC 2020 edition of Daring Fireball's "The Talk Show" podcast and uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday.
Federighi wanted to stress that the Developer Transition Kit that was released this week should not be compared to any future consumer product. "Even that DTK hardware, which is running on an existing iPad chip that we don't intend to put in a Mac in the future, it's just there for the transition, the Mac runs awfully nice on that system."
"It's not a basis on which to judge future Macs, of course, but it gives you a sense of what our silicon team can do when they're not even trying," he continued. "And they're going to be trying.
"I think those guys are being total tools, honestly," said Federighi. "I mean, I don't how they can even begin to come up with that theory. I get people coming up asking if we can still launch Terminal? Yes, you can. These Macs are Macs. We're not changing any of this.
Separately, Federighi acknowledged that users were concerned about the future of running Windows on Macs that are based on Apple Silicon. "We're not direct-booting an alternate operating system," he said, confirming that Boot Camp will be run on the new Macs. However, he implied that Windows will be able to run under virtualization. "The fact that we mentioned virtualization in the keynote was partly a nod to people's interest in the topic."
The full video interview runs 95 minutes, and also ranges from the App Store disputes with developers, to what it's like working intensively with macOS Big Sur, and on to Apple's long history in privacy.
Craig Federighi on The Talk Show
As usual, Gruber goes in-depth on the event's biggest announcements, including Apple's coming transition away from Intel chips in Mac to its own custom silicon, keystone features of next-generation operating systems iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, watchOS 7, tvOS 14, user privacy and more.
The remote interview was recorded as a special WWDC 2020 edition of Daring Fireball's "The Talk Show" podcast and uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday.
Transitioning away from Intel
"Those of us who do know about what's coming [are] very excited," said Federighi. "But you can imagine Apple would not go down a path like this without feeling like that it was a tremendous step for the Mac in the future. We're excited to tell the full story... but right now hopefully developers know enough to both be excited and compelled to get on board and do their part."Federighi wanted to stress that the Developer Transition Kit that was released this week should not be compared to any future consumer product. "Even that DTK hardware, which is running on an existing iPad chip that we don't intend to put in a Mac in the future, it's just there for the transition, the Mac runs awfully nice on that system."
"It's not a basis on which to judge future Macs, of course, but it gives you a sense of what our silicon team can do when they're not even trying," he continued. "And they're going to be trying.
Buyer lock-in
Gruber discussed how some people have concluded that Apple's move to its own silicon is part of a plan to further lock developers and consumers into the Apple eco-system."I think those guys are being total tools, honestly," said Federighi. "I mean, I don't how they can even begin to come up with that theory. I get people coming up asking if we can still launch Terminal? Yes, you can. These Macs are Macs. We're not changing any of this.
Broad topics
Apple's Greg Joswiak defended the company's App Store, but did also acknowledge that there were issues that are being looked at.Separately, Federighi acknowledged that users were concerned about the future of running Windows on Macs that are based on Apple Silicon. "We're not direct-booting an alternate operating system," he said, confirming that Boot Camp will be run on the new Macs. However, he implied that Windows will be able to run under virtualization. "The fact that we mentioned virtualization in the keynote was partly a nod to people's interest in the topic."
The full video interview runs 95 minutes, and also ranges from the App Store disputes with developers, to what it's like working intensively with macOS Big Sur, and on to Apple's long history in privacy.
Comments
If they can make the chips more powerful and cheaper than intel then Apple could win a lot of market share without sacrificing profits.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/06/24/apple-silicon-macs-ditch-startup-key-combos-alter-target-disk-mode
Windows is already available for ARM, even though not widely available compared to x86; so the question is there too: not what will Apple provide and support, but what will Apple block or make possible by documenting hardware sufficiently for device drivers to be written/adapted?
Time will tell, but so far it appears that everything in the Apple OS universe is still sitting on top of UNIX.
Correct, but given that Linux was given CONSIDERABLE amounts of time in the State of the Platform (and even an unusual amount of time in the keynote itself), there is clearly a path for virtualization available within the design of Apple Macs. Apart from gaming and other limited use cases, virtualization has been the preferred method of running Windows apps for a very long time, and I fully expect that this will continue to be possible in future Apple Macs just as it already is with Linux via Parallels right now.
Exactly. For example (and this was discussed on the State of the Platform), iPhones and iPads work with very limited RAM compared to desktops/notebooks, and with a core array (mostly "efficiency" cores vs "high performance" cores) based on what iOS apps require balanced against tight battery management and heat considerations.
I'm very excited for the future of Apple notebooks, but eventually most desktop users are going to be in for a big treat as the transition continues. Yes things like direct-booting into alternative OSes and a few low-level things will have to be dropped due to either security concerns or just the change of processors, but so far (and yes, it's early days yet), I think the pain will be minimal apart from some very edge cases, and the potential for unexpected but positive developments is quite high.