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A comment on Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app support on the Mac. Parent comment

Re:Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app... by mrpippy on Thursday April 12, 2018 @12:48AM (#16818073)
Apple couldn't have gone straight to 64-bit apps on Intel--the OS and frameworks just weren't ready yet. The Intel machines shipped starting with 10.4.3, which only supported 64-bit command-line apps/daemons. Only with 10.5 (released in late 2007, 18 months after the first Intel machines) were full graphical 64-bit apps supported (on both ppc64 and x86_64).
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Re:Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app... by wtallis on Thursday April 12, 2018 @12:56AM (#16818113)
Firmware was an issue, too. The first generation of Macs with 64-bit processors still used 32-bit EFI and booted a 32-bit kernel that could run 64-bit applications.
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Re:Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app... by mrpippy on Thursday April 12, 2018 @01:17AM (#16818209)
True, it wasn't until 10.6 that a 64-bit kernel was available, and only newer machines got to use it.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/08/mac-os-x-10-6/5/

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Re:Apple starting to alert users that it will end 32-bit app... by yuhong on Thursday April 12, 2018 @01:54AM (#16818370)
I had a blog article about the entire mess that was often confused (there was actually three modes): http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2009/09/mac-os-xs-64-bit-modes....
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