JonD
Forgive my ignorance (I'm not a Mac user), but is running an Hackintosh still an option?
I thought I read something about Apple moving away from Intel, so I'm not sure if or when that will happen. But for the time being, especially now that CWbBL is free, any Hackintosh user on the planet can have it -- so a native Mac version has got to be way, way down on Bandlab's priority list.
Hackintoshes can be a nightmare to build and keep running. Then there’s the problem of obtaining the operating system and keeping it updated. It’s easy enough to build something that will run the free, downloadable by anyone version of MacOS but that’s the FreeBSD derived Unix/GNU side without the Aero graphical interface.
Despite what some fanbois say Hackintoshes are not a production platform.
There’s also the problem that to build a Hackintosh using as closely as possible the same components as a Mac costs quite a bit more than buying a Windows PC - and you still don’t get a Retina screen. Then you have to start configuring the OS to operate on hardware it’s not entirely intended for.
All in all, putting together a Hackintosh is not a trivial task.
As for Apple moving away from Intel, time will tell, though I can’t see it happening soon. Apple may at some point shift to using the processor family used in iOS devices but although they’re fast at doing what they’re designed to do they’re not (yet) a competitor to a fast multi-core Intel cpu which was designed without worrying over such concerns as battery life or the lack of active cooling.
Cakewalk for Mac? I’d love to see it as Sonar beat Logic in some respects, particularly MIDI handling and a (too me) more logical structure and workflow. But it would mean Bandlab building a Mac version from the ground up, the codeweaver approach tried under Gibson being pretty much a pointless exercise other than providing a demonstration of how not to port a large, complicated resource-demanding application.
Then there’s the problem of CbBL for Mac recovering the money required to create it. For a company with deep enough pockets and the right business plan it would be possible, but Cakewalk never really had that kind of backing behind the company as it moved through successive owners, in particular Roland and Gibson both lacked the capital and the leverage to spend money they might not start to get back for quite some time.