this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I know the cool thing is to hate on Apple for being Apple, but they have actually done a solid job with their transitions between instruction set architectures.
Ultimately, software developers and end users are forced to use the newer architecture, yes. But credit where credit is due, Apple chose to take the path of providing both hardware and software level facilities to make the transitions as seamless as possible over years-long timespans. They could have simply refused to support older architectures to force a migration down our throats, and indoctrinated fanboys would have opened their wallets anyway.
What they actually did was create compatibility layers, a multi-architecture executable file format, and binary translation frameworks built into the operating system. I fucking despise them for creating a walled-garden ecosystem and cult around their products, but I genuinely have to respect them for Rosetta and Rosetta 2. Developing a binary translation layer is a whole different beast than high-level emulation, and it's significantly more difficult to pull off correctly. The fact that they managed to do it twice, and do it damn-near seamlessly is impressive. Rosetta 2 even supports translating just-in-time compiled code, which is a huge pain point for that kind of thing.