Apple Unveils "Metal 2" Graphics API, Better Performance & Capabilities For VR

[starshipeleven]

they can push changes faster and make better use of their custom chips's features. especially now when they will make their own mobile GPUs. anyone that saw how fast metal has evolved vs vulkan would not ask "why don't they go vulkan"...

Someone here does not know how Vulkan extensions work. (hint: they are made to push changes fast and make better use of your own chip's features)

[memeka]

Someone here does not know how Vulkan extensions work. (hint: they are made to push changes fast and make better use of your own chip's features)

that's correct
but i think the use cases of vulkan and metal are a bit different (e.g. on the apple platform, there's mostly apple doing all the drivers, including GPU) - just like they are not conceptually at the same level...

i think a good comparison would be wayland vs. mir, in an alternate reality where mir achieved its initial goal (in a timely manner, too)

[starshipeleven]

but i think the use cases of vulkan and metal are a bit different (e.g. on the apple platform, there's mostly apple doing all the drivers, including GPU) - just like they are not conceptually at the same level...

You know right Vulkan standard and extensions are made by hardware manufacturers, the same that also make the drivers?

i think a good comparison would be wayland vs. mir, in an alternate reality where mir achieved its initial goal (in a timely manner, too)

Yes, it's a good comparison (both are useless NIH). Main difference is that Canonical didn't have the same resources of Apple, which is the only reason Metal went anywhere while Mir languished and eventually failed.

[lunarcloud]

It is not the FOSS community's job to do the heavy lifting for Apple who only cares about one platform: Apple.

Taking the quote and replacing "Linux/FOSS" with "Apple" doesn't make sense.
There isn't anything implicitly wrong with a company being concerned only with its own ecosystem and products. Why would Apple care about enabling technologies that erode its market differentiation? And Apple isn't asking the FOSS community to do it for Apple.

Yes, I would prefer Apple to adopt Vulkan, even just in addition to Metal, but I fault them mostly for not enabling graphics card manufacturers to supply the support themselves such as in other OSes, e.g. Windows and Linux. I would love if Apple even allowed "the FOSS community to do the heavy lifting for Apple".

[chrisq]

That is delusional in my mind. The Apple ecosystem is so huge that it is foolish of a developer not to use their technologies. You may not like that idea but right now their isn't a more heavily used mobile OS.

androids market share is 82%, I don't know what kind of maths you're using to make iOS the more heavily used OS.

[gurqn]

has %82 market share and Android 7 runs on %10 of those devices :P Plus despite having the quite powerful hardware it still runs like a crap

[starshipeleven]

Taking the quote and replacing "Linux/FOSS" with "Apple" doesn't make sense..

No, that's actually the only way it makes sense. FOSS shouldn't be held responsible of supporting all weird niche bullshit proprietary standards for lulz.

I mean... seriously... that fanboi was blaming FOSS community for not working enough on Apple ecosystem, implying it was done because FOSS is full of Linux fanbois.

I didn't mean to say Apple should do anything or asked for anything.

[starshipeleven]

androids market share is 82%, I don't know what kind of maths you're using to make iOS the more heavily used OS.

That's world average.
Local numbers can have iOS to 40% (usa/GB/AU) or even 50% in some countries (japan) https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/11/ios-market-share-kantar/

But again, it's a far cry from "more heavily used OS", in most favourable situations it's basically a tie.

[smitty3268]

That's world average.
Local numbers can have iOS to 40% (usa/GB/AU) or even 50% in some countries (japan) https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/11/ios-market-share-kantar/

But again, it's a far cry from "more heavily used OS", in most favourable situations it's basically a tie.

And in a lot of situations, it's the $$$ that's a more important measure than just the userbase size anyway.

If Android has a bunch of $50 phones and the people using them don't buy lots of apps, compared to $500 iPhones and people that throw money away daily, that's a point in favor of Apple as far as development priorities go.

I'm honestly not sure how the money split is these days, though it's clear Android definitely has more users.

[starshipeleven]

If Android has a bunch of $50 phones and the people using them don't buy lots of apps, compared to $500 iPhones and people that throw money away daily, that's a point in favor of Apple as far as development priorities go.

I'm honestly not sure how the money split is these days, though it's clear Android definitely has more users.

Waters are quite murky in this regard also because on Android there is the third way, free apps with integrated ads, and this is pretty prevalent, much more than on iOS.

Also, I have enough experience with Apple users and I noted that many indulge in software piracy wherever possible (on PCs this is more or less the norm, on iOS much less admittedly). I know very few people that actually pirate apps on Android, (it seems mostly limited to more tech-savyy users). Most either buy the app for a few $ or look for a free (ads-powered) alternative.

Of course I make no claim this is any more than my personal experience.