back to article Apple's macOS 12 adds improved virtualization though no sign of anything like Boot Camp on M1 silicon

Desktop virtualization is not the kind of thing that gets a mention in Apple’s big product announcements, and today's effort that revealed macOS 12 — code-named Monterey — was no exception. But sharp-eyed observers have spotted some changes that will make Macs, including those powered by Apple’s own Arm-compatible silicon, more …

  1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    No one needs Bootcamp anymore

    Bootcamp was a nice gimmick when the first Intel Macs were released but has not really been necessary for at least five years: machines have got beefier and virtualisation has got better. In addition, Bootcamp on ARM would require a heap of new drivers for Apple's proprietary hardware. Much easier to improve virtualisation support, including Windows for ARM, when it becomes generally available.

    1. Sammy Smalls

      Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

      It will be interesting to see if there are any mainstream use cases for bootcamp, but I cant think of any off the top of my head.

      I'm playing around with Parallels on an M1 with the Windows preview, and I've got to say that I'm impressed with the M1, Parallels and Windows on ARM. Not perfect, but pretty damned good. I've used it for demos and it worked just fine. I can also just leave it running and not even notice it's there.

      My current challenge is to get COD4 running properly. It nearly does, and I've actually played a couple of games, but it's very flaky. It's actually got worse with the last couple of Windows updates... :(

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        Always nice to hear real world reports. I think both Apple's silicon and virtualisation will improve over time and it will be interesting to see if this year's chips offer more RAM (bigger challenger for the approach they've adopted). But I expect we'll be living with other teething troubles of MacOS for ARM for a while yet, which is why I got one of the last Intel MBPs last year.

        Nevertheless, I'm preparing to authorise MBAs and MBPs for general use.

        1. Sammy Smalls

          Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

          I held off getting an M1 for until 6 weeks ago. I wish I'd jumped sooner. It's how a computer should be - invisible in daily use. No slowdowns or beach balling, no whirring fans (I've got the MBA M1 - 16GB if you're interested). There have been a couple of foibles (Excel in Rosetta for all features for example) but nothing that's cause me any issues.

          It's funny, this is how Macs used to be 5 years ago. Not sure who to blame.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

            Intel does deserve a lot of the blame for dropping the ball on CPU development. My 2020 MBP is a little faster than the 2016.

            But I have a lot posix stuff that gets managed by MacPorts and I do worry about some of the hacks Apple are making both to restrict access to the kernel but also make software installation easier. I have quite a bit of unsigned software – OpenOffice, Calibre – which already need extra permission to be installed. But my use case isn't standard and I have few reservations about recommending the new machines to friends and family for general use, especially as Foxconn Apple can actually deliver in volume. SWMBO would have got one if she hadn't insisted on getting a new shiny thing in the spring.

      2. Ilsa Loving

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        So wait, you're running a Windows/Intel game on Windows/Arm, under Parallels on MacOS.

        The fact that it's playable at all is actually pretty darn cool!

        1. Sammy Smalls

          Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

          Yup. Pretty funky.

    2. big_D Silver badge

      Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

      There are certain applications that need hardware access to work. I had a Siemens phone system, the control software only worked in XP and wouldn't work when virtualised (even on Windows 7 with XP Mode or VMware Workstation). The product was still on sale in late 2015 and the software hadn't been updated to work with a version of Windows that was actually in support!

      But if you are down to that level of problem, an ARM based chip isn't going to get you very far either, so I agree, Bootcamp probably isn't really necessary these days and if you really are desperate enough to need hardware support, a cheap Intel mini-PC is probably a better bet.

      1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        I weaned myself off Windows apps until the only thing left was the synch app for a really useful rugged phone that didn't have a Mac app. I kept Parallels running just for this until Parallels wanted £40 quid for an upgrade, at which point I cut my losses.

        The phone sits in the car now for emergencies and when I use it once a quarter to keep the PAYG SIM alive I'm always shocked to see how full the battery is.

        1. ThomH

          Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

          Possibly this comment might have helped you earlier: the confusingly-named VMWare Fusion Player is free for personal use, and allows creation of Windows virtual machines up to and including Windows 10. Apart from the licensing differences if you weren't a personal user, all you lose over the paid version is VM encryption, cloning, fine virtual network customisation and, per the comparison page, remote vSphere host power control. Oh, and you'll have to register with an email address.

          When my licence for Fusion didn't transfer to the latest version I switched to Fusion Player and, honestly, haven't noticed the difference.

          It's a bit buried, but see here.

          There's also always VirtualBox if you want to keep things completely free and open, but I've always found it to be less than spectacular at GPU translation.

          1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

            Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

            Thanks - I'll have a look at it.

          2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

            Thanks for the tip but I've always found Parallels to be easier to work with, on MacOS at least.

      2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        I think I had the same shitty software. Can't remember when it stopped working but I seem to remember it being able to use the USB connection in Parallels.

        1. big_D Silver badge

          Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

          It was a little black ISDN PBX for home / small office use.

          The USB port passthru in VMware and Windows XP mode weren't compatible with it. In the end, I just kept an old XP laptop in a cupboard for when I needed to change the settings.

          Now we are stuck with Siemens WinCC, the viewer still uses IE11 and ActiveX controls... Just waiting to see what they do now that IE11 and ActiveX is going away.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

            Ugh!

            We switched to an Asterisk-based system (Ansitel) a couple of years ago. The UI is far from perfect but at least it doesn't require IE!

      3. DS999 Silver badge

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        There's no way any Intel Mac currently sold (or sold in the last few years if not longer) could boot Windows XP via Bootcamp, so changing to ARM Macs would have hardly made things worse.

        Software that requires an obsolete and unsupported version of Windows should be avoided like the plague. If the only way you can get management to see the light is by saying "but you can't run it on your shiny new M1 Mac" then it is OK to use that as an excuse!

        1. big_D Silver badge

          Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

          The problem is, the Windows PC or the Mac is the cheap, disposable part of the equation.

          Are you really going to tell your boss to throw out a $500,000 piece of equipment, just so you can't plug in a shiny new M1 Mac? The old Windows XP PCs on running lab equipment and production lines are kept around, because throwing out several million in working plant and lab equipment, just because the control software won't work on a more modern version of Windows isn't an option. But those PCs are usually isolated from the rest of the network and don't get Internet access (at least with the companies I've been involved with over the years).

          Heck, we even have an old sign printer (prints metal and acrylic signs) that requires MS-DOS and a physical serial port. That isn't even networked and we have 2 spare, old PCs with the right sort of BIOS and physical serial ports, just in case the old PC dies. The printer still works and a replacement costs north of 50K.

    3. chivo243 Silver badge
      Windows

      Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

      I'm glad bootcamp has finally gone, fun while it lasted, who dual boots on a mac anymore? Please nudge them for me... the coffee is brewing.

      1. DS999 Silver badge

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        I think it isn't people dual booting, it is people who bought a Mac to EXCLUSIVELY run Windows who will are bothered by the loss of Bootcamp. Apple isn't going to miss that niche market. That was more of a thing before Windows laptop OEMs decided to better compete with Apple in that regard - the LG Gram series looks like a good alternative for the people who want to run Windows on a Macbook Pro.

      2. G28

        Re: No one needs Bootcamp anymore

        Me! Although it’s admittedly on an old MacBook Pro. It’s no longer supported by Apple and my wife has her new MacBook Pro to work with. I stuck Windows* on it and thanks to the driver package from Boot Camp it works a treat. Performs better than my old HP laptop and would run rings round a cheap £400 entry from PC World. It’s got a good few years of life left in it and it’s been saved from an unnecessary trip to the dump.

        *I know I could have put a Linux distro on there easily too.

  2. Nick Pettefar

    Where is the fastly story that’s taken xkcd.com off the net?

    Fastly error: unknown domain: www.xkcd.com.

    Details: cache-dub4324-DUB

    1. FIA Silver badge

      Yeah, the massivly decentralised network broke there for a bit. ;)

      edit: oh.. and it's here.

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