Microsoft to bring Visual Studio to Mac later this week

Posted:
in Mac Software
Microsoft is bringing its Visual Studio development tool to the Mac, launching it during this week's Connect() conference starting on Wednesday, according to a quickly deleted announcement.




The software is a "mobile-first, cloud-first" suite focusing on C# and .NET, Microsoft said. It described the Mac version as a "counterpart" to the one on Windows, with an interface modified to better suit the macOS environment.

TechCrunch noted that while Microsoft has traditionally tried to steer developers towards using Windows, the global shift towards cloud computing means that developers are less tied to a single OS or piece of hardware. It can still make money off, however, off of software and its own cloud platform, Azure.

Indeed under current CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has become increasingly Mac- and iOS-friendly, content to have people on non-Windows platforms so long as they're using Microsoft services.

At the same time it has also been diving more deeply into hardware, expanding its Surface line with products like the Surface Book and the Surface Studio, and experimenting with its own augmented reality technology, HoloLens.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    I did not see that coming :-o
    bdkennedy1002k2kwbkkcanuck
  • Reply 2 of 26
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,255member
    Well that sure is a shocker! 

    I wonder if this is a sign that Microsoft is a little unnerved by the success of Apple's partnership with IBM and the use of Swift on both client and server sides. 
  • Reply 3 of 26
    Mrpineapple1325Mrpineapple1325 Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    Now we just need an Xbox app for Mac OS please I beg you Microsoft add it to the Mac 
  • Reply 4 of 26
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    I'm actually glad they're being open with this stuff. It may or may not get people to use PC's, but it could at least get people to buy their software. Revenue is revenue, it doesn't matter whether it comes from a PC user or a Mac user. I never really understood this under Ballmer's direction. Microsoft is a software company and it should be developing software for any platform it sees it can succeed in whether its macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, etc. 
    pscooter63gilly017watto_cobralolliver
  • Reply 5 of 26
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    blastdoor said:
    Well that sure is a shocker! 

    I wonder if this is a sign that Microsoft is a little unnerved by the success of Apple's partnership with IBM and the use of Swift on both client and server sides. 
    I think it's about the lack of developer support on their mobile platform. Most developers will write for iOS and/or Android. With Windows Mobile market share skidding along the bottom of the graph then they are not going to pick up any developers. And without developers, consumers will not buy into Windows Mobile.

    If they can offer a cross-platform toolkit to iOS/Android developers then they believe that these folk will also deliver a Windows version since there is no effort in doing so.

    The only problem with that plan is that cross-platform toolkits rarely offer a good experience without some native coding thrown in. And developing the app is only part of the story; you still need to be familiar with the Windows platform to support it.
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 6 of 26
    I think that Microsoft would get more traction with products far earlier if it was more opened like this. Next year MSSQL Server coming to Linux and that will put Microsoft way ahead of Oracle (Gartner says Microsoft surpasses Oracle to leader in this year). Having spoken to some Microsoft database people during corporate presentation, the team is fresh and thinks differently than previous people. It sounds like good change is coming. Competitive on offering and quality at the same time is always good. Managment at Microsoft is taking right decisions at last.
    edited November 2016 nolamacguyduervo
  • Reply 7 of 26
    Once again. Microsoft is on top.
    duervo
  • Reply 8 of 26

    Mmm...

    No support for Swift?

  • Reply 9 of 26
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    I hope they do something with the atrocious interface that is Visual Studio. That IDE is the most mind numbingly bad experience I have ever had in software development. Busy, clumsy, buggy, crash ridden. Nice code completion, however.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    Rayz2016 said:
    I did not see that coming :-o
    It's just a rebrand of Xamarin Studio. It still lacks support for Win32 and UWP apps.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    Rayz2016 said:
    I did not see that coming :-o
    they released a mini Visual Studio editor about 6 months ago, were working up to this full version.
  • Reply 12 of 26

    steven n. said:
    I hope they do something with the atrocious interface that is Visual Studio. That IDE is the most mind numbingly bad experience I have ever had in software development. Busy, clumsy, buggy, crash ridden. Nice code completion, however.
    im biased since I'm an enterprise .NET dev by trade, but i think the VS IDE is a really good one. lots of Xcode devs have complimented the things MS got right in it as well, and wished to see more of it in Xcode.
  • Reply 13 of 26
    Microsoft just wants Apple's developers to also develop for Windows.
    They will likely provide tools  to easily port Mac and especially iOS applications to Windows and Windows tablets.

    Apple's APIs are better designed and with the new Swift language and the popularity of iOS devices, developers are choosing to develop for iOS.
    That's why IBM, SalesForce, SAP are all big iOS developers.



  • Reply 14 of 26
    Microsoft just wants Apple's developers to also develop for Windows.
    They will likely provide tools  to easily port Mac and especially iOS applications to Windows and Windows tablets.

    Apple's APIs are better designed and with the new Swift language and the popularity of iOS devices, developers are choosing to develop for iOS.
    That's why IBM, SalesForce, SAP are all big iOS developers.
    "That's why IBM, SalesForce, SAP are all big iOS developers

    Yeah... and Microsoft, too  :p

    edited November 2016 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 26

    Mmm...

    No support for Swift?

    Their focus is C# and .NET everywhere...
  • Reply 16 of 26
    Rosyna said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    I did not see that coming :-o
    It's just a rebrand of Xamarin Studio. It still lacks support for Win32 and UWP apps.
    It's not for those platforms, it's for Dot Net Core, their "cross platform version of .Net".
    https://www.microsoft.com/net/core#macos

  • Reply 17 of 26

    Mmm...

    No support for Swift?

    Their focus is C# and .NET everywhere...

    Yes, but that's not going to attract macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS developers.

  • Reply 18 of 26
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    bdkennedy said:
    Once again. Microsoft is on top.

    How does this put Microsoft on top? Explain...
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 26

    Mmm...

    No support for Swift?

    You have XCode for Swift so why Microsoft would want to mimic this? Also as I hear it is not as great as one could think. I think they are talking about .NET being supported on different plaform which should not be as difficult. Mono did this on UNIX so now it is time for Microsoft to bring it all to all platforms.
    edited November 2016
  • Reply 20 of 26
    Rosyna said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    I did not see that coming :-o
    It's just a rebrand of Xamarin Studio. It still lacks support for Win32 and UWP apps.
    Not quite true. I iused Xamian on Mac with Mono (it looks versy similar, but implements only .NET 3.5 fully and newere versions to some level only). Microsoft seems to have different plans than just rebranding I think.
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