That’s precisely the concern with an arm Mac. Nerfed versions of software. The emphasis will be more that you can run iPad or iPhone apps on it.
If we can get desktop quality programs and not lite versions then perhaps it’ll be worth a look. I would be curious to see the native arm version of office for Mac that was shown at the event. MS doesn’t even have such a thing for windows arm though I’m sure they’re working on it.
I am going to have to respectfully and genuinely ask you what ever gives you the impression that any software on the Mac will be nerfed versions of any kind? If you watched the WWDC Keynote and/or the State of the Union presentation, and paid attention, you would not be having these concerns at all. Running iOS and iPadOS apps was a footnote at best compared to what they really were talking about. It is being done because they can. I know there are a lot of iPhone apps I would love to run in a little window as companions to my desktop. I also know that many, many developers are going to opt out of putting their iOS and iPadOS apps on the Mac App Store, because they don’t want people running them there, like Fortnite and other games like it, or the core functionality would be lost, i.e. rear camera, etc.
Just because they are unifying the design language look and feel across platforms doesn’t mean they are gimping macOS and turning it into iOS or iPadOS. It is still the wide open platform it has always been. It still runs every single app that is running on the Mac today. All apps that get optimized and run natively on Apple Silicon will be that much better. What part of FCPX and Logic Pro X is nerfed? Maya running smoothly in emulation on the A12Z DTK? Craig Federighi telling John Gruber how he was amazed at the DTK‘s performance when the Apple Silicon team, quote “wasn’t even trying.”
No... I honestly feel like all of this closing down, dumbing down, software nerfing paranoia is just that, and not based on anything Apple has done or insinuated. They have done quite the opposite, vehemently, many times. I think Craig said it best, “What more do we have to say or do? I’d ask people to judge us by our deeds. We are not closing the Mac down, we are not merging operating systems. The Mac is and will remain the open and flexible platform it has always been.”