
Apple Hires Key Chip Designer From ARM as Own Efforts Ramp Up - malshe
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-26/apple-hires-key-chip-designer-from-arm-as-own-efforts-ramp-up
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Razengan
There are certainly many signs over the last few years that point to ARM Macs.

I don't mind what CPU my Mac runs on, but I am worried about how long I'll be
able to play older games, run the occasional Windows/Linux software, and
dabble in OS hacking or low-level tinkering to add custom features, on the
same machine.

The seemingly gradual lockdown of macOS – mandatory "notarization", moving
system files to a read-only volume, and disallowing kernel extensions in the
future* – has generated some concern where before I used to just trust Apple
to know what's best for everyone.

I welcome the extra security as long as we can manually bypass it if we
_really_ want to, but I warily wonder if the move to ARM Macs will come with a
macOS that is almost as locked-down or "sanitized" as iOS.

* As mentioned during this WWDC's Platforms State of the Union.

~~~
bredren
I have used multiple gens of the MacBook Air for web programming—often
docked—most recently w the assist of an egpu.

I am interested in battery efficiency, raw cpu and graphics performance and do
not care to do low level tinkering on my Mac.

I do expect it to be much more open to tinkering than iOS, but I also welcome
the litany of security measures introduced so far and caution when it comes to
executing wild code that affects my privacy.

I realize this puts me further in with trusting Apple to make good compromise
decisions on what is possible and the hoops they create for developers on
Macos, but I trust they will mostly make the right call for me.

It’s certainly been better than when I’ve had to deal with windows over the
past decade.

~~~
nfellaby
There is a significant community in the (biological) sciences that are reliant
on the Mac platform as an intermediate between Windows based applications such
as Office and, importantly, the often highly specific
programs/scripts/applications created for Unix platforms for analysis.
Ignoring these users would be a mistake.

Personally, after 13 years of Macs any computer I'm buying in the near future
are going to be Linux based because of the current trajectories Apple have
decided to take.

Just insight from a different community I guess.

~~~
manderley
Wouldn't running Windows 10 and the Microsoft Subsystem for Linux make way
more sense for these users? Seems more like inertia that is keeping some on
the Mac.

~~~
AnonymousPlanet
In academic environments there is often no dedicated IT department, so all
support is done by the technically versed colleagues. Replacing machines with
Macs has always resulted in an enormous reduction of these support calls, in
my experience. Moving back to Windows would destroy all of that.

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Jerry2
TFA starts off with a piece of actual news and then veers off into rumors and
unsubstantiated BS which is presented as facts.

> _Apple is in the process of migrating its Mac line to ARM processors as it
> looks to reduce its reliance on Intel._

~~~
etaioinshrdlu
I don't think I could use a Mac for software development anymore if they
switched away from Intel.

So much of my work is dependent on running linux executables in Docker for
later deployment on a server running Intel. That is certainly extremely
common.

I also need a Windows VM quite frequently for the odd program that only runs
in Windows, or if I need to run Visual Studio one day. Windows is also very
important for me to keep around so I can test software products in the same
environment as other windows users, and there are definitely a handful of
windows users out there.

Sure there may be alternative options in both areas but I'm not interested in
solutions that work 80% of the time. I can't let my development environment
get in the way of my work.

~~~
jchw
It would be slightly less convenient, but it probably wouldn’t affect your
development capabilities so badly. Pretty much any Dockerfile that works on
x86 should work on ARM. Linux runs totally fine on ARM. If anything, the worse
problems are with Linux desktop and games software that assume ARM == embedded
and attempt to use EGL and GLES.

There are, of course, many Docker repositories that lack ARM images, and you
couldn’t use the exact same build locally as in production, but I think those
are not actually huge, unresolvable issues. (The latter is straight up a non-
issue with a good CD pipeline.)

Windows 10 also runs on ARM platforms, with the ability to transparently
emulate Intel. I’m sure this is or will be usable inside of VMs even if dual
booting is not an option.

[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/apps-
on...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/apps-on-
arm-x86-emulation)

~~~
StudentStuff
Most linux desktops work fine on ARM chips FYI. GPUs in the ARM world are
usually just for OpenGL used by video games.

Video decoding/encoding is handled by a VPU (not GPU), HDMI is handled by a
separate HDMI PHY, and most of these components have mainline, libre kernel
support if you use an Allwinner based single board computer.

Microsoft has started branding some Mali GPUs as DirectX 11 capable, though
YMMV on using these features.

~~~
jchw
Sure, but many games and applications are hardcoded to use EGL and GLES (which
is not always available for desktop ARM.) For example, I believe Qt4 makes the
assumption that ARM = GLES.

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CalChris
Apple sells at least 10 ARM chips for every Intel chip already. Should this
hire seem at all surprising regardless of future plans?

~~~
xxs
this is unlikely when it comes to datacenters, where the large business is.

~~~
msh
That's not a large business for Apple.

~~~
rbanffy
And, considering competition is primarily on price, it makes no sense to be a
business for Apple.

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helloworm
Apple already makes the best custom ARM chips.. why would they need a dude
from ARM?

I think this is news for the sake of news. It’s just head hunting

~~~
terandle
In the article it is mentioned that Apple's previous head architect left
earlier this year so they needed a new one.

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annoyingnoob
Apple extends its ARM, gives Intel the finger.

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deepnotderp
It's not like Apple already has one of the world's best chip design teams...

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blacksoil
Considering the launch of Mac's App Store, the move to using LLVM IR-based
distribution, and this, it sounds reasonable that they're trying to build an
ARM-based MacBook! And considering the present state that OSX performs much
better than Windows of the same hardware spec, it would be really a big game
changer if Apple were to succeed in creating a performant ARM-based Macbook!
Battery life of such Macbook would be super crazy and I guess more people
would move over to Mac? I hope Linux and Microsoft do something before this
happens...

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malshe
Outline link: [https://outline.com/D3sK4b](https://outline.com/D3sK4b)

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BooneJS
Mike’s a really sharp guy.

~~~
sprafa
You’ve worked/met him?

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BooneJS
Back when he was at Intel, our companies did some co-development.

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jpeg_hero
Is this really newsworthy? Sounds like an accomplished person, but is it
really a key hire??

~~~
MR4D
FTA:

"At ARM, Filippo was a lead engineer behind chip designs...

...Filippo was also a key designer at chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices and
Intel Corp."

And his LinkedIn resume has much more detail - pretty impressive guy.

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-filippo-
ba89b9/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-filippo-ba89b9/)

~~~
baybal2
Guy like Filippo, Keller, Koduri and such are pretty much like football
players in the top leagues. Crazy signing bonuses, and clubs pay more for
depriving an enemy team a key player, and assurance of him not playing against
them, rather than for the genuine expectation of him performing for the team.

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ngcc_hk
Just hope they have an AI gpu gp programme. Otherwise a bit forced to move to
windows and linux currently even for my personal pc. (Cloud ok but offline or
testing still want one close by. Current apple no Nvidia.)

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dvdbloc
I wonder how much that cost them...

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dang
Url changed from [https://9to5mac.com/2019/06/26/apple-arm-hire-
mac/](https://9to5mac.com/2019/06/26/apple-arm-hire-mac/), which points to
this.

~~~
malshe
Thanks

