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Apple's WWDC keynote of June 2020: Big changes!

Wow, it was a big WWDC keynote.

Supported Hardware: Good and Bad

First, the best news: Basically all devices that can run iOS, iPadOS, and TVOS version 13 will also be able to run version 14.  That's great news, as our good hardware will be able to continue with their useful lives.

But in some disappointing news, WatchOS 7 will kill off the Series 1 and Series 2 watches.  Trust me, I appreciate that old hardware is hard to keep running forever.  Hardware doesn't improve with age, especially in a highly integrated device like a watch.  Still, it will be a shame to see all those old watches heading towards the recycle bin in the next five years.  Seiko's business model looks worse than ever.

Similarly, MacOS v11 kills off all the 2012 Macs.  There are a lot of them, but I guess the writing was on the wall.  So they'll get a couple more years of updates, and then people will have to do something else with them.  Happily, these old beasts can easily run Windows or Linux.

On the shift to ARM

The biggest news is the shift away from x86 to ARM.  This is a huge deal.   Apple has done exceedingly well with their huge architectural shifts (68k--> PPC; Mac Classic --> OSX; PPC--> x86), and I really hope that this one goes just as well.

Just as a reminder, these shifts happened in 1994 (26 years ago), 2001 (19 years ago), and 2006 (14 years ago).  So it has been a while.

I don't understand Apple's strategy, as it isn't as if Intel is some kind of tech slouch that the forum trolls claim they are.  Apple's move to their own silicon puts Apple firmly in command of the future of the Mac.  It's good not to be dependent on a 3rd party.  Ford, VW, etc, don't buy GM motors.

I certainly hope that Apple can do some amazing power/performance/efficiency tuning with their own CPUs.  I also hope that Apple can make Macs more COST efficient as well, although Apple didn't talk about cost in their announcement.

The loss of x86 virtualization is a big deal, as is the ability to easily slap Windows or Linux x86 on my old Mac.  But that only hits a subset of users, likely under 5%.

I am disappointed that Apple isn't making an Apple TV-sized Mac Mini, but I can't wait to see the ARM-based Mac Mini in action.

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