Totally makes sense, macOS Golden Gate will no longer run x64 apps.
jherskovic•Jul 24, 2026
This keeps getting posted and is not true. Rosetta is still present and working. It throws a deprecation warning notice but otherwise runs fine.
It's macOS 28 that will no longer run x86_64 apps, although games are exempt. Rosetta is basically going game only at that point. They haven't announced how long it will keep working in this capacity.
Teever•Jul 24, 2026
Have they announced how they’re going to make it game only? A whitelist based on a hash of the executable? That seems cumbersome.
klausa•Jul 24, 2026
The basic answer is ability to run x86_64 will still be there, but the system frameworks (apart from like OpenGL shims etc.) will no longer be shipped with x86_64 slices.
rarepostinlurkr•Jul 24, 2026
The macOS 27 release notes explain how to activate this mode. `game-test-tool`
wiether•Jul 24, 2026
I know this has nothing to do with _him_, but having everything gold being so important to _him_, it feels like this is a release dedicated to _him_.
Kind of a weird vibe.
spullara•Jul 24, 2026
seems very reasonable to me
mark_l_watson•Jul 24, 2026
That sounds reasonable, Intel Macs aren't much used anymore.
kalleboo•Jul 24, 2026
I'm curious if there are any decently representative use share stats out there for Mac Intel vs ARM. I tried finding some a while ago and found nothing really conclusive (mostly for niches like developer tools or games - what's the long tail look like?).
brcmthrowaway•Jul 24, 2026
Browser communites would have this, no?
kalleboo•Jul 24, 2026
All the Mac browsers report as Intel even on Apple Silicon to reduce fingerprinting/avoid being detected as PowerPC
flohofwoe•Jul 24, 2026
Browsers stopped reporting "real" user agents a long time ago as fingerprinting protection.
inigyou•Jul 24, 2026
Firefox reports correctly.
flohofwoe•Jul 24, 2026
Not on macOS at least, the Firefox user agent on my uptodate M1 MBP says that I'm on "Intel Mac OS X 10.15".
PS: and on my Win11 machine Firefox says that I'm on 'Windows NT 10.0', which AFAIK is the same NT version that was also reported on Win10.
p0358•Jul 24, 2026
And on Linux it says you're on "X11" even if you're a proud Wayland session user!
running101•Jul 24, 2026
I still use one
notpeter•Jul 24, 2026
June 2026 Steam Survey says 23% Intel
Homebrew 30d says 27% Intel
My gut says 20-25% is a reasonable ballpark.
Apple generally provides 6-8 years of OS support for hardware. My 6.5 year old 2019 Macbook Pro works fine with macOS 26; macOS 27 will drop support in September 2026; macOS 28 will drop Rosetta Intel support. macOS 26 get updates thru September 2028 at which point all Intel mac hardware will be >8 years old.
We haven't given out an Intel Mac at work (enterprise with 50k users, maybe 1/5th use Macs) in years....I think we might have a handful of people still using one, but it's gotta be 500:1
shevy-java•Jul 24, 2026
Wasn't Java once a "write once, run everywhere"? Not that this affects me personally (I use Linux primarily; and have a Win10 machine for testing on my left hand side here), but it seems strange that Oracle supports fewer operating systems rather than more. Perhaps Oracle aims for a windows11-only Java version ... where everyone must verify his or her age.
pjmlp•Jul 24, 2026
It is open source, anyone is free to send patches, given that OpenJDK is like Linux distros.
avalys•Jul 24, 2026
Apple no longer supports this platform. There is no reason to target it for new releases. Java is not abandoning MacOS.
iSnow•Jul 24, 2026
It's only Java on macOS for x64 that gets dropped. Java on Apple's M-type CPUs will still be alive and kicking.
bananamogul•Jul 24, 2026
"a Win10 machine for testing on my left hand side here..."
Well, the Latin word for "left" is "sinister", so that tracks.
k_dev•Jul 24, 2026
Write once, run everywhere refers to the target bytecode running on a compliant JVM. Since apple itself has mentioned to officially drop intel support, OpenJDK maintainers have no reason to continue support on a deprecated hardware.
That said, if there is any enterprise/ community that requires a port for intel macs then, they can maintain it.
link to become a maintainer: https://openjdk.org/projects/
amiga386•Jul 24, 2026
If this is as stated, then Oracle will still offer macOS/x64 ports of Java 11 LTS, Java 17 LTS, Java 21 LTS and Java 25 LTS.
Java 25 LTS was released last year. All these LTS versions are still receiving updates. You'll only be in trouble if you need some new feature of Java that will only begin to exist in JDK 27 or later, but want to run on macOS/x64.
splix•Jul 24, 2026
I guess I'm the only one who is still on x64. I don't like I'm pushed to migrate only because the software wants that, otherwise the hardware works with no problem.
teaearlgraycold•Jul 24, 2026
Can you run Linux?
splix•Jul 24, 2026
Why? I can upgrade, that's not a problem. I'm just saying macOS works fine so far, almost all of the software works too. But I see increasing amount of announcements like this one suggesting that I'll have to replace hardware to get the latest versions. So I guess I will do that only to be able to use that software, not to get better performance.
ktm5j•Jul 24, 2026
Well Apple isn't making amd64 systems anymore, so software support will naturally start to waver.
splix•Jul 24, 2026
What I wanted to say that I don't like exactly that. The hardware is fine, but software is not.
questionableans•Jul 24, 2026
I feel like Apple got a lot of devs who would otherwise be Linux users on board circa 2005 due to solid-feeling laptop hardware with drivers and power management that just worked. That pattern became self-propagating as startups scaled up, bought a lot of Macs and hired Mac IT people.
But Linux has gotten better in that time period, too. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as refined out of the box. But Linux is ahead in the ability to do whatever you want and keep using your old hardware.
For people who care about how computers work, I think Linux is a more stimulating environment than macOS to work in. Even though—or partly because—you may have to dig in a little deeper to get things working the ways you want.
hparadiz•Jul 24, 2026
LLMs have completely changed how I run Linux. I just got a brand new Lenovo and getting the fingerprint sensor PAM configuration going for sudo was a breeze. I was having issues with my wifi not switching APs properly on my mesh and debugging and implementing a stable permanent fix took the same amount of time as what would previously have been just the start of me googling to the problem. And now that it's done the experience is really nice. An absolute dream even.
afavour•Jul 24, 2026
> I'll have to replace hardware to get the latest versions
Or switch software. Windows will run via Boot Camp and depending on your hardware Linux might work too.
questionableans•Jul 24, 2026
Including Windows 11 on T2 Macs, even though there are places online that claim it doesn’t work. It’s much easier to set up Linux, though.
tomstockmail•Jul 24, 2026
You can install Linux on the hardware and get full x86_64 support again.
splix•Jul 24, 2026
Have just read above that it's possible. It's interesting actually. So I guess I'll do that once I buy a new mac. I have a maxed out pro, with i9 and so on, so throwing it await would be a shame
LoganDark•Jul 24, 2026
Intel Macs can run practically anything. Mine had a triple-boot between macOS, Windows and Arch Linux, back when that kind of thing was possible.
Apple's really cut off gaming for good. My only hope is that someone ports FEX/Proton back to macOS, or finds a way to get it running with proper hardware acceleration.
iSnow•Jul 24, 2026
Java 25 is an LTS, I guess you can use that for a couple of years still. But at some point of time, macOS will be too old and all kinds of software will no longer install.
ktm5j•Jul 24, 2026
That's just how things go. But, existing Oracle JDK versions will continue to work, and openjdk might continue to support osx/amd64 as a target.. so I wouldn't worry too much about this.
evilduck•Jul 24, 2026
The writing has been on the wall for the last 7 years and the LTS of JDK 25 goes until 2030, 11 years from the point Apple announced their intentions. Java for Mac apps or native Java backend development has always been niche as well. For Java development for Linux hosting, you still have a path forwards beyond 2030 with virtualization. How's your SPARC dev machine holding up?
syncsynchalt•Jul 24, 2026
> the hardware works with no problem
In the same way that PowerPC and m68k hardware still works, sure. Apple silicon is so performant that (much like those previous two hardware jumps) it's not worth maintaining support for the old arch at this point.
exe34•Jul 24, 2026
My mid 2012 air had trouble with os x about 10 years ago. I moved to nixos and haven't had any issues since.
aseipp•Jul 24, 2026
"Does the hardware physically work" isn't ever really the question under consideration, though, for better or worse. For Macs specifically, it is going to get increasingly difficult to even test things in the coming years. Mac x86 builds are by far the flakiest on GitHub in my experience, there's no expanding capacity, only refurbished machines 6 years out, and the number of users is dwindling, not to mention the enormous performance gap. So what do you do? When we last asked about it in a project I work on a few users expressed interest, so we kept it, but that isn't forever. The JDK as a project probably has a different risk profile than most other projects too so the cost of keeping around that code can be relatively high.
Not saying it is always good, in fact I would say there is rarely a "good" happy outcome in these cases, just trying to give the alternative perspective when you have to make these calls.
qphe95•Jul 24, 2026
People said AI was going to replace all programmers, yet AI can't even maintain a x64 macOS port of Java.
vips7L•Jul 24, 2026
LLM code isn't allowed in OpenJdk.
twosdai•Jul 24, 2026
Isn't this the paid version of the JDK?
EDIT: I should actually click the link, not just read the title. Rip.
vips7L•Jul 24, 2026
The paid version of the JDK is OpenJdk.
qphe95•Jul 24, 2026
Thats an arbitrary decision that can easily be reversed.
ZiiS•Jul 24, 2026
Practically that means code that is identifiable as LLM, if the code is indistinguishable it is indistinguishable.
Quitschquat•Jul 24, 2026
Guess it's time to upgrade from my 2014 MBP
syncsynchalt•Jul 24, 2026
You did well to skip the 2015-2020 era (butterfly keyboards, touchbar).
With that said anything M1 or newer is going to be a delightful upgrade for you. An enormous jump in performance, battery life, and thermal performance.
Quitschquat•Jul 24, 2026
I'm hoping a 2026 MBP elides the notch
mikhael28•Jul 24, 2026
If you have Apple Intel hardware, I strongly strongly strongly recommend you migrate to Linux. It works amazingly on MacOS, except I guess the sound drivers aren't perfect. Too many security holes in old, unpatched software.
charcircuit•Jul 24, 2026
At this point it would be better to migrate to a new MacBook. There has been a lot performance and efficiency improvements with M1+.
jraph•Jul 24, 2026
Not if the hardware still works and still does the job.
hparadiz•Jul 24, 2026
My Macbook Air 2021 M1 flies circles around my 2014 MBP. I got a new battery for the 2014 but the rubber bezel is disintegrating. I'm thinking of turning the 2014 into a TV driver but that's about it.
wiether•Jul 24, 2026
Seems to be the idea to me: don't use a no longer supported +10yo laptop as a daily driver, but convert it to something useful for free.
Being a laptop, the power draw is almost negligible and it doesn't take much space.
charcircuit•Jul 24, 2026
People want computers to take on new jobs and the hardware is a limiting factor on that. And even if it can take on a job, that doesn't mean it does it as well as a newer machine.
jraph•Jul 24, 2026
Depends. I'm surrounded by people who just need light web browsing and emails. They don't really like computers, they want to use them only when absolutely necessary. A Mac from 2012 with a 256-512 GiB SSD and 8 GiB of RAM is plenty.
Hell, last week I was on holidays without my computer, and I have borrowed such a machine. The battery has been replaced so it still has a long battery time. It was as fast as I could hope (and I'm quite sensitive to this stuff!), the only thing slowing me down was the keyboard layout, the window management of the OS, and the touchpad gestures not responding as well as what I have on Linux (notably swipe for back in Firefox, I was quite surprised).
This thing can't be updated anymore though and even Firefox gave up, so I advised switching to Linux to keep things safe.
Aside from the OS, this thing does 100% the job it needs to do. Recent hardware won't do better because that's not the limiting factor.
Even if money is not an issue, replacing hardware has environmental costs, and that's in this spirit that I answered no, not necessarily better.
charcircuit•Jul 24, 2026
People like computers to work fast. They don't like when their computer sounds like a jet engine. Especially among other people whose computers don't do that. People like not having to worry too much charging their computer.
If it already does the job it needs to, does it really need a bleeding edge version of Java?
The environmental cost is less than ordering a pizza. A product that someone uses for years is not going to be an environmental issue.
questionableans•Jul 24, 2026
I second that. I wouldn’t buy an Intel Mac specifically to run Linux, but my T2 Mac Minis work well for me on Linux. I did have to copy some Broadcom firmware from macOS, and I keep a small macOS installation in order to access recovery mode settings.
bluedino•Jul 24, 2026
Oh, how times have changed.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at May's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif., Mac OS X will come with a full implementation of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java 2, Standard Edition. It will be the only high-volume OS that does so
Oracle screwed themselves lately, the licensing push basically started IT departments with exterminating Java and anything related to it.
debugnik•Jul 24, 2026
You may have misread: Java will keep supporting ARM macOS, they're just deprecating Intel macOS. Also this is a decision taken by the JVM team, not Apple; the latter simply deprecated their Intel platform first.
duskwuff•Jul 24, 2026
With regards to the last bit, Apple hasn't shipped Java as part of the OS in ages.
BadBadJellyBean•Jul 24, 2026
I was very confused at first when I read the headline because my brain skipped the x64 and I thought "Wait! No more Java for macOS?".
dang•Jul 24, 2026
[stub for offtopicness]
[Submitted title was "As of JDK 27, Oracle engineers will thus stop maintaining the macOS/x64 port", which is a quote from the article, but was a bit confusing in the title]
bananamogul•Jul 24, 2026
Ten minutes later, I'm still trying to figure out the role of "thus" in this headline.
ajkjk•Jul 24, 2026
I like it. Bring back thus as a normal word. Also thusly.
refulgentis•Jul 24, 2026
It’s fine to have it as a normal word, it might even be one! Hehe it is to me at least :)
However, I believe OP is right, it’s un…grammatical? -parasable? in the headline? There’s no…referent?
More plain spoken :) - there’s nothing indicating what lead to the thus. I.e. “it’s raining thus I brought my umbrella”, we’re missing the “It’s raining” part
fatbird•Jul 24, 2026
Also, having explained by example, finish with "quod erat demonstrandum"
ZiiS•Jul 24, 2026
The phrases is taken from the email. Apple stopped ... thus Oracle ...
radicality•Jul 24, 2026
I think it’s clear from the “Motivation” section, as it’s actually preceded by another sentence there.
> Apple has transitioned its hardware products to the AArch64 processor architecture and is phasing out support for x64. Oracle engineers will thus stop maintaining the macOS/x64 port as of JDK 27.
derdi•Jul 24, 2026
> WARNING: The macOS/x64 port is deprecated and may be removed in a future release.
OK, seems reasonable. Next sentence:
> There will be no guarantee that the port will build, much less function.
This... Is something quite different? This isn't what I think "deprecation" means. The message should say "no longer maintained" if that's what they mean. And it should include the "not guaranteed to build, much less function" part.
13 Comments
It's macOS 28 that will no longer run x86_64 apps, although games are exempt. Rosetta is basically going game only at that point. They haven't announced how long it will keep working in this capacity.
Kind of a weird vibe.
PS: and on my Win11 machine Firefox says that I'm on 'Windows NT 10.0', which AFAIK is the same NT version that was also reported on Win10.
Homebrew 30d says 27% Intel
My gut says 20-25% is a reasonable ballpark.
Apple generally provides 6-8 years of OS support for hardware. My 6.5 year old 2019 Macbook Pro works fine with macOS 26; macOS 27 will drop support in September 2026; macOS 28 will drop Rosetta Intel support. macOS 26 get updates thru September 2028 at which point all Intel mac hardware will be >8 years old.
[1]: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/processormfg/
[2]: https://formulae.brew.sh/analytics/homebrew-os-arch-ci/30d/
Well, the Latin word for "left" is "sinister", so that tracks.
Java 25 LTS was released last year. All these LTS versions are still receiving updates. You'll only be in trouble if you need some new feature of Java that will only begin to exist in JDK 27 or later, but want to run on macOS/x64.
But Linux has gotten better in that time period, too. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as refined out of the box. But Linux is ahead in the ability to do whatever you want and keep using your old hardware.
For people who care about how computers work, I think Linux is a more stimulating environment than macOS to work in. Even though—or partly because—you may have to dig in a little deeper to get things working the ways you want.
Or switch software. Windows will run via Boot Camp and depending on your hardware Linux might work too.
Apple's really cut off gaming for good. My only hope is that someone ports FEX/Proton back to macOS, or finds a way to get it running with proper hardware acceleration.
In the same way that PowerPC and m68k hardware still works, sure. Apple silicon is so performant that (much like those previous two hardware jumps) it's not worth maintaining support for the old arch at this point.
Not saying it is always good, in fact I would say there is rarely a "good" happy outcome in these cases, just trying to give the alternative perspective when you have to make these calls.
EDIT: I should actually click the link, not just read the title. Rip.
With that said anything M1 or newer is going to be a delightful upgrade for you. An enormous jump in performance, battery life, and thermal performance.
Being a laptop, the power draw is almost negligible and it doesn't take much space.
Hell, last week I was on holidays without my computer, and I have borrowed such a machine. The battery has been replaced so it still has a long battery time. It was as fast as I could hope (and I'm quite sensitive to this stuff!), the only thing slowing me down was the keyboard layout, the window management of the OS, and the touchpad gestures not responding as well as what I have on Linux (notably swipe for back in Firefox, I was quite surprised).
This thing can't be updated anymore though and even Firefox gave up, so I advised switching to Linux to keep things safe.
Aside from the OS, this thing does 100% the job it needs to do. Recent hardware won't do better because that's not the limiting factor.
Even if money is not an issue, replacing hardware has environmental costs, and that's in this spirit that I answered no, not necessarily better.
If it already does the job it needs to, does it really need a bleeding edge version of Java?
The environmental cost is less than ordering a pizza. A product that someone uses for years is not going to be an environmental issue.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at May's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif., Mac OS X will come with a full implementation of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java 2, Standard Edition. It will be the only high-volume OS that does so
Oracle screwed themselves lately, the licensing push basically started IT departments with exterminating Java and anything related to it.
[Submitted title was "As of JDK 27, Oracle engineers will thus stop maintaining the macOS/x64 port", which is a quote from the article, but was a bit confusing in the title]
However, I believe OP is right, it’s un…grammatical? -parasable? in the headline? There’s no…referent?
More plain spoken :) - there’s nothing indicating what lead to the thus. I.e. “it’s raining thus I brought my umbrella”, we’re missing the “It’s raining” part
> Apple has transitioned its hardware products to the AArch64 processor architecture and is phasing out support for x64. Oracle engineers will thus stop maintaining the macOS/x64 port as of JDK 27.
OK, seems reasonable. Next sentence:
> There will be no guarantee that the port will build, much less function.
This... Is something quite different? This isn't what I think "deprecation" means. The message should say "no longer maintained" if that's what they mean. And it should include the "not guaranteed to build, much less function" part.