Status on m1/m2 update?

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  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 674 Guru
    edited August 2022

    Of course you wouldn’t. You’re PC user.

    Apple is not for people who like to build PC from parts and to upgrade their computers later. Apple also doesn’t make cheap computers for the masses. It is expensive and people need to plan what they need (Ram, SSD size) before purchase.

    Apple is for people who like “computer as an appliance” paradigm. Not for tinkerers, which is like 99% of individual PC users - for them, the concept of turn-key computer is alien.

    So I understand the resentment, because I don’t like PCs at all. But I do not understand hatred, name calling and rudeness (not from you Kubrak, from others).

  • nightjar
    nightjar Member Posts: 1,322 Guru

    Your expectation that Apple should adhere to industry consensus is rather odd. Apple choosing to decrease its dependence on other elements of the market seems smart to me. And I suspect much of the current macOS coding issues also relates to a strategic long-term vision regarding optimization of shared development for macOS/iOS/iPadOS.

    Breaking some eggs to make an omelette is OK by me.

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 674 Guru

    Apple is in position to make their own standards. One can choose not to program for their platform and not to sell software for their platform. Simple as that.

  • Laureano Lopez
    Laureano Lopez Member Posts: 102 Advisor

    It's not an expectation, it's a value judgment. It may be all great for Apple stockholders, but I'm not an Apple stockholder, nor I identify as one. It's just bad for the world. It's not that terrible with processors, because Arm (the company) retains some independence, and the architecture is widely used, so if you had been abstracting your dependencies the shift shouldn't be that hard. For example, I only had to write a header redefining my vectorization primitives -if I had been sparkling my code with _mm intrinsics, it would be much worse. That's what I meant: Apple may suck, but something seems to be really off with NI's codebase. If you can't implement a simple zoom in fixed steps for your UI after two decades, there must be some serious hardcoding involved. (Yes, the optimizing compiler, I know. Still.) Users should know, though, that even if the simpler, more orthogonal arch can make some code faster, it can also make other code slower: particularly anything that used AVX, as AS doesn't implement SVE, so it doesn't have 256-bit vectors. Now, if we're talking innovation by itself, going ARM is already a conservative, subpar choice: why not RISC-V? Well, it's an open standard, and Apple hates open standards. That's very clear in the move from OpenGL to Metal. It's a good thing that the Khronos Group exists, but of course Apple had to go its own way, so now everyone has to duplicate their rendering code, or rely on additional abstraction layers like Skia. This is bad for everyone, in and out of the Apple bubble, and it's a consistent pattern: same happens with connectors, communication protocols... There's no gain for users here, only for Apple's stockholders.

  • nightjar
    nightjar Member Posts: 1,322 Guru
    edited August 2022

    I strongly disagree with your opinion that there is no gain for users.

    Apple's approach allows them to uniquely pursue their vision of overall user experience.

    I as a user prefer this less fettered approach in creating a unified ecosystem for my extended senses and second brain.

  • Laureano Lopez
    Laureano Lopez Member Posts: 102 Advisor
    edited August 2022

    I can perfectly understand that, but under the hood, when these choices make software worse overall, or they complicate or plain rule out some use cases, that's bad for you too as a Mac user. It may very well not be relevant compared to the advantages you get, but it's also perfectly avoidable by Apple, and their motivations there have nothing to do with you, me or anyone else than themselves.

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 674 Guru
    edited August 2022

    Apple aside, the amount of technological debt NI has accumulated over the years beggars belief.

    I’m not a developer, but they cannot fix even the simplest problems, like resizing the window in KK, not even saying anything about providing HiDPI or VST3 compatibility on ANY supported platform.

    M1 is a new thing for sure, but HiDPI and VST3 were a sport long before Apple even thought about making their own processors. VST3 specification is I think at least 10 years old by now…

  • nightjar
    nightjar Member Posts: 1,322 Guru

    I strongly disagree with these statements again. I see it as a matter of short term vs long term. And I do think Apple's motivations are complex and do account for the user accordingly. Their long term success is tied to user satisfaction. There will be other competitive choices for brain/sensory ecosystems.

    How devices factor into our daily lives will be far different going forward than the 2000-2020 era.

    This will bring a sea change in all life endeavors... including music creation on all levels.

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    @Maciej Repetowski

    NI has most of plugins also as VST3....

    I am not fan of building PCs. I made 1st one myself after 40 years of using computers... Generally it is not any magic, one clicks few items to appropriate slots. Lego is more complicated, than this....

    Apple is fancy, it makes nice looking HW. Nothing bad about it. It is more status thing than anything more. Bad experience with PC platform is mainly due to the fact, that PC costing 150-200$ has many compromises that might bring problems... PC costing 1000+$ has more than decent quality...

  • inmazevo
    inmazevo Member Posts: 25 Helper
    edited August 2022

    I'm personally quite happy that Apple is now going to be a unified platform across their devices.

    Meaning: one of the things I don't like, if comparing to Windows 'tablets' is that my favorite software on my desktop/laptop won't run on my iPad. Buzz-kill. Photoshop, which I use religiously, and Word/Excel, which I use out of necessity, just suck to me on iPad. Ugh. I hate them there. So I don't use them there, even though there are many times I'd much rather grab a tablet than take out the laptop.

    Over time I expect this to now become easier, albeit with screen-size and tablet interface 'restrictions.' Even for the developers. This lowers the threshold from 3 'platforms' (x86 Win, x86 Mac, ARM Mac/iOS) down to 2. If I were a dev... oh wait... I'd prefer it.

    Time will tell on that one though.

    Besides: it's been 15+ years since a major 'platform' overhaul on the Mac side, to something that works better for their overall infrastructure. I'm fine with it.

    Nothing wrong with not liking it either.

    I think what's going on with NI is deeper than M1 though. The stuff from 2019 has ramifications. Joining 'collectives' feels needy. Seeing FM8 for $10 on plugin boutique feels down-right worrisome (it's done, I think, as is probably Absynth and maybe even original Massive). Now your there with A.I.R. and iZotope's old stuff and instruments, and even Waves to a slightly lesser extent. Not good.

    But I do think Reaktor is fine. Roll out Kontakt first, given it's bread-and-butterness (plus no-doubt existing contractual agreements with vendors); then roll out Reaktor since half of your Komplete line depends on it; then probably Guitar Rig since they're clearly still working on it.

    I could see everything else get dropped entirely from real future updates. It'll work on Windows until they release an incompatible OS (and they do), and it'll work with Rosetta and Intel Macs until they release an incompatible OS (and granted, Apple OS's move more frequently than they used to, which is a flip, as for a while there Windows was just all-over the place and Apple was the consistent one).

    Ugh. $10 for FM8 on plugin boutique. Sigh

  • inmazevo
    inmazevo Member Posts: 25 Helper

    Just a curiosity: do NI plugins work WITHOUT emulation on Windows ARM machines?

    Curious as to whether they do. I have no idea, as I don't have one

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 674 Guru

    Not sure if anyone tried this. ARM Windows has its own emulation layer to run x86 programs, from what I’ve heard it’s much less efficient than Apple’s Rosetta 2.

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    I do not know if MS layer or Apple's is better.... I would not be surprised if the both are based on the same 3rdparty code...

    Definitelly x86 code needs Rosetta like layer to run on ARM Windows. I do not know if it works satisfactory as who would want to run decent application on ARM under Win.... That is task for early adopters who like kids games...

    Developing for Win, iPad and Mac is still developing for three platforms despite the fact iPad and Mac are on ARM. They have different user interface... And I would not do the same application for iPad and for Mac. One costing 30 USD and the other 300 USD. Mainly if iPad app may be run on Mac...

  • nightjar
    nightjar Member Posts: 1,322 Guru

    Think subscription service instead of app purchase, and the concept of $30 vs $300 is irrelevant.

    Users will access the creative ecosystem with whatever device is handy at the time and/or suited for the task at hand.

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