Comment by merbanan
4 years ago
Well I think this falls right into the anti-competitive argument. With the option of booting unsigned code the platform is available for anyone. Microsoft did sign boot loaders so linux can boot, there would have been some kind of fallout if they had not. So the booting of unsigned Mach-O sunds like a minimal action to not let it become a public issue for Apple.
The addition of raw mode sounds like a stable abi for booting linux. The Asahi developers have found "stuff" with the hardware. Just that feedback will be of great value to the continued development of the Apple SoCs. So my guess is that the raw mode is a gift with the expectation to be able to see how the Linux folks solves other issues.
Why would it become a public issue for Apple? You're going to have a REAL tough time getting the government to intervene because you can't run linux on a macbook. You have literally thousands of alternatives.
And outside of government intervention, the response from the general public will be: who cares? None of them want to or care to run Linux on a macbook. Heck even within the HN community I'm willing to bet the number of folks who run linux as a daily driver desktop on a macbook is a rounding error.
Mac’s have a 16% market share. I don’t think Apple is concerned about antitrust in this part of their business.