[NTLK] [ADMIN] Happy New Year! Happy New Server!

[Matthias Melcher]

Hi Forrest,

tl;dr Windows sucks, but macOS has become a moving target for me, and I 
don;t like that.

Still not sure if this was a good idea, but many "cross-platform" apps 
are badly ported from whatever the original platform is. And since I do 
some CAD work and some electronics, MacOS always gets the short end of 
the stick.

This was no big problem, because I could use Parallels to run Windows as 
a VM on my MacBook. But then Apple threw out nVidia, and with it any 
chance of accelerated AI. Now, Apple kicked out the Intel CPU, and 
Parallels no longer runs. Yeah, they promised that it will eventually, 
but I remember that Classic Mac emulation was a thing for a few years, 
then scrapped. So was PowerPC support, and then 32 bit support. OpenGL 
support is as good as gone. Intel support will be gone by 2023, latest.

Apple just loves to scrap back-compatibility, because users must re-buy 
their software, or use a subscription model. Just one example: I bought 
Photoshop 6 many years ago, and it does everything I need. No longer 
works on Mac, but it works just fine on Win10. Why in the world would I 
want to move to Creative Suite?

It also drives me nuts in OpenSource development. Einstein was 
originally written to run in 32 bit, simply because it emulates a 32 bit 
machine. Moving it to 64 bit was possible, but wasted time, because it 
does not improve the app itself. I am pretty sure that we will never 
emulate a Newton with more than 2GB of RAM.

Newt/0 was much more complicated, and the current port is not optimal at 
all. mosRun, my tool that runs the command-line Classic developer tools 
for Newton, had to be ported. This is a lot of time for a one-man show.

Now, will those apps run on the M1 CPU on new Macs? Honestly, I don't 
care anymore. I don't want to sift through pages and pages of docs that 
tell me, how simple the transition is. mosRun will work as long as Apple 
support Intel binaries. And then probably die on MacOS.

With all the problems that Win10 has, at least the software rot is not a 
problem. Sure, Windows 98 tools barely still run, but all my stuff is 
just happy in Win10 without recompiling.

Oh, and my laptop has an SD card slot again! What a life saver when you 
do a lot of 3D printing and camera work.

  - Matthias

On 1/15/2021 12:34 AM, Forrest wrote:
> Matthias, I am terribly sorry to hear that you had to leave the comfort and security of MacOS to enter the *^%#?!* Windows environment.
> 
> Sorry, I seem to have had momentary keyboard issues there.
> 
> I’m guessing there were no firearms involved that were pointed at you, and you made the choice voluntarily and with good reason.
> 
> I wish you well.
> 
> Mahalo,
> Forrest
>