It is fine if they want to kill off features off upcoming hardware, but killing off the capacity to use something that was used for months is not the best look. If Metal Only was the goal, add a prompt when someone enables said web drivers that they’re going off the reservation snd that they assume the risk.
These release notes seem to be Nvidia giving up the ghost that they’re going to be able to resolve this dispute and High Sierra is the last release where all but a couple of really old Nvidia GPUs work.
I bought a lower-spec MBP with the expectation of using eGPUs (in the hope Apple and Nvidia would make up), but it's good to see it confirmed that it won't be worthwhile.
It basically means heavy GPU-based work is pretty much a Linux/Windows only thing now. Huge problem as machine learning starts to become an interest topic for people in the art and design community.
Out of curiosity, what Mac apps are you and other professionals using for art & design? Being a part time artist & ex-Mac person, I thought the stereotype of Mac being an artist/designer’s machine was almost gone. Most professional artists I know have had to switch away from Mac. To be fair, most artists I know are doing 3d and need GPUs. But I’m honestly wondering what else is keeping people on Mac and how well the platform is serving professional designers and artists today.