Apple will phase out Rosetta 2 in macOS 28

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Timeline, Precedent, and Apple’s Philosophy

  • Rosetta 2 launched with M1 in 2020; removal in macOS 28 (2027) gives ~7 years of support.
  • Some argue this is generous and consistent with previous transitions (68k→PPC, PPC→Intel, Rosetta 1, 32‑bit drop); Apple has never prioritized long‑term backward compatibility.
  • Others say 6–7 years is short compared to Windows, where very old binaries often still run, and see this as planned obsolescence rather than necessity.

Impact on Existing Mac Apps and Plugins

  • Users rely on Intel‑only apps: scanner software, OCR tools, audio plugins, Photoshop plugins, DAW ecosystems, even current products that still tell users to run DAWs under Rosetta.
  • Many expect “long tail” software (older audio plugins, games, niche tools, studio setups) will simply die; some plan to freeze machines or keep old Macs offline for stability and compatibility.
  • There is concern about losing access to old creative projects that depend on discontinued plugins or formats.

Gaming, Wine/Crossover, and Apple’s “Subset for Games”

  • Apple says a subset of Rosetta will remain for “older unmaintained gaming titles” using Intel‑based frameworks.
  • Debate over what that actually covers: games touch large portions of Cocoa, Metal/OpenGL, AVFoundation, input, etc.; unclear how Apple will support games but not other apps using similar APIs.
  • Wine/Crossover and Game Porting Toolkit rely on the same translation tech; some fear newer Windows‑only games or Mac ports via Wine could be collateral damage despite the “games” carve‑out.

Containers, Docker, and Dev Workflows

  • Big concern from developers: x86‑only Docker images (e.g., SQL Server, corporate stacks) and desire to run exactly the same images as x86 production.
  • Confusion over whether Rosetta for Linux VMs and Apple’s containerization framework (which uses Rosetta) are affected; some read the notice as Mac‑app‑only, others note Apple’s language is vague.
  • Many report they already ship multi‑arch images; others say duplicating builds for ARM adds cost and isn’t always justified.

Virtualization and Technical Details

  • Rosetta never emulated whole VMs; Parallels/QEMU can emulate x86 independently but are much slower without Rosetta.
  • Apple Silicon includes hardware assists (TSO, flag instructions) for fast x86 translation; those will likely remain as long as any Rosetta subset exists, so chip die area isn’t saved by dropping Mac‑app support alone.

Reactions and Alternatives

  • Supporters see this as a necessary push to finish the ARM64 transition and reduce maintenance/QA burden.
  • Critics emphasize loss of user trust, broken workflows, and contrast with Linux/WINE or Windows’ longer compatibility horizons; some recommend not upgrading or switching platforms.
  • Several wish Apple would open‑source Rosetta so the community could maintain long‑term x86 support independently.