Gradually, because it is a substantial change, new operating systems are coming that are compatible with the Apple M1 line of chipsand today we know of a luxury addition to the list, OpenBSD. And it’s not just any integration, because Apple’s relationship with BSD goes back a long way and has played a very important role in Cupertinos’ history for years, although surprisingly many of its users don’t know it at all.

But let’s go in parts. Maybe the first thing that occurred to you (if you didn’t know it, of course) is if there is any relationship between FreeBSD, a derivative of historical BSDwhich was gradually born as a derivative of UNIX, at a time when Linux was decades away from the light and became popular, and OpenBSD, the operating system that is the star of this novelty, in conjunction with Manzan chips.

The answer is yes, because both are derivatives of BSD. The main difference is that FreeBSD focuses much of its efforts on offering a simple and very stable administration environment, thus providing a relatively affordable environment. OpenBSD emphasizes security to the extent that it is his leitmotif. OpenBSD is therefore a particularly recommended choice in environments where asset protection plays a key role.

Well, the terms clarified, the good news is that, as we can read on his website, version 7.1 OpenBSD has made significant progress in supporting the Apple M1to the extent that for its developers is now ready for general use. Progress, which can be very positive for Apple, because, as I mentioned, OpenBSD is an operating system that is especially highly valued in environments where security is a key feature.

That is undoubtedly excellent news for the ecosystem and users of computers with M1 chips. More than a month ago, we talked about Asahi, a Linux distribution specifically designed for the Apple SoC, which has already made the leap to its first alpha version, an operating system that, according to some performance tests, could even improve M1 usage than Apple’s own macOS. And now, with the advent of OpenBSD, the offerings are still growing.

And that’s what I said at the beginning of the advent of OpenBSD on Apple computers with the M1 chip appeals to the relationship between BSD and Cupertino. And what is the relationship? Well, MacOS X, as we already remembered when we talked about the 20th anniversary of its arrival, had BSD in its bowels, which included NeXT and other open source operating systems. In other words, BSD has been part of Apple’s experience for years, albeit only in the fragments used for macOS or, of course, in its normal X86 distributions in the years when Apple based its systems on Intel.