Equivalent of .NET Framework?

[Sid The Kid]

Hi,

What is the equivalent of .NET Framework from Microsoft on MacOS?
That thing needed to build applications with Visual Studio on Windows based devices.

I know the XCode is the program developers use to create apps for iOS, MacOS...

Visual Studio is available on MacOS.

Why is XCode not available for Windows users?

By the way, I'm not whining and complaining about the thing not available on Windows but just asking for curiosity.

Thanks

 

[Ursadorable]

Why is XCode not available for Windows users?

My guess is Apple wants people to buy Mac's to develop Mac and iOS applications.

 

[Sid The Kid]

My guess is Apple wants people to buy Mac's to develop Mac and iOS applications.

It's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. In order to get XCode you need MacOS and to get MacOS you need to buy a Mac. So people will buy Apple stuff.

 

[throAU]

Hi,

What is the equivalent of .NET Framework from Microsoft on MacOS?
That thing needed to build applications with Visual Studio on Windows based devices.

I know the XCode is the program developers use to create apps for iOS, MacOS...

Visual Studio is available on MacOS.

Why is XCode not available for Windows users?

By the way, I'm not whining and complaining about the thing not available on Windows but just asking for curiosity.

Thanks

Equivalent to .net is Cocoa.
Xcode is not available for Window users because it is pretty tied to Cocoa and the macOS frameworks which are not available for Windows, and it does not generate Windows applications.

To make it useful, including the IOS simulator, etc. - apple would have to port and maintain a copy of Cocoa to Windows.

I'm sure they'd rather not waste the resources, and would rather spend said resources making their Mac and iOS platforms better instead. Plus, Microsoft has a history if knifing partners in the back (just ask IBM) when it comes to development.

Apple are doing just fine without getting in bed with Microsoft. There's nothing for Apple to gain from such an arrangement, only potential downside. Why waste their limited development resources (at the cost of not using them for Apple software development) on helping Microsoft steal developers from their platform?

 

[Significant1]

Cocoa and vendor lock-in

 

[Sid The Kid]

And Microsoft offering Visual Studio for Mac users means they are trying to get more people to develop more programs for Windows-based devices?

It's kind of strange because they way something works on Windows is different on Mac. So imagine someone makes an app for Windows ON a Mac and tests it.

 

[Mikael H]

And Microsoft offering Visual Studio for Mac users means they are trying to get more people to develop more programs for Windows-based devices?

Probably not for devices, but for servers.
Most server-side development, I'd say, happens for Linux and BSD, not Windows. Even on Microsoft's own Azure cloud platform, a third of deployed servers run Linux or BSD rather than Windows. MacOS is a BSD-derived, unix-like operating system that is a lot more polished for end-users than you'll find most Linux distributions to be, but still provides the necessary developer tools and a proper Unix-like environment, meaning that you find a lot of good devs preferring to run macOS rather than Windows on their own computers.

By providing developer tools for .NET for other platforms, and by working on making it feasible to run .NET server-side software on unix-like platforms, and by providing a "Linux on Windows" subsystem, Microsoft hopes they'll be able to lure more devs to return to Windows as their main developer platform or at least use Microsoft products to write the software for unix-like servers, preferably running in Azure, so they can make more money off that group of people and services. With a foot inside that door, they may also get a few more devs writing software for actual Windows servers, generating more licensing money for Microsoft.

 

[CaffeinePizza]

If you're wanting some kind of .NET compatibility on macOS, I believe Mono is the appropriate software for that or Wine/CrossOver for more complex programs.

 

[Bart Kela]

And Microsoft offering Visual Studio for Mac users means they are trying to get more people to develop more programs for Windows-based devices?

Nope. They are hoping that apps/services that run on iOS might also include Microsoft cloud services as an option.

Much of the explanation here is that Microsoft failed spectacularly in the mobile arena.

Microsoft needs to offer their development environment to Mac/iOS programmers so Apple devs might be enticed to create applications/services that will A.) run on iOS/macOS, and B.) also run on desktop Windows or utilize Microsoft's cloud services.

If Microsoft can't maintain some sort of footprint as a mobile device player, then they will be relegated to being a desktop computer company, a market that has been declining for years in total unit sales.

Remember, Microsoft's smartphone market share is basically 0.00%.

They have to grovel now while they are still relevant before they become irrelevant in the mobile computing world.

 

[c0ppo]

And Microsoft offering Visual Studio for Mac users means they are trying to get more people to develop more programs for Windows-based devices?

It's kind of strange because they way something works on Windows is different on Mac. So imagine someone makes an app for Windows ON a Mac and tests it.

Apple makes a lot of money on services (music, itunes, icloud, app store, etc.). But Apple makes most money selling hardware. MS is the complete opposite of that. They make most of money selling software and services.

Apple has literally nothing to gain by allowing iOS builds on Windows. Nothing. MS has to offer their software to android and iOS devices, since their mobile platform is dead. MS wants Office to run on Android/iOS/MacOS. This makes them profit. While Apple would loose on hardware sales if they do the same thing.

And Xamarin ≠ VStudio. Not even by a long chance. I love VStudio, I am a long time .NET developer. I would like nothing more then to have 'real' VS on a mac, not some monodevelop/xamarin posing as a VS.

Chrome/FF/Opera/etc. are all available on mac, windows, linux. Why isn't IE? Why isn't Edge? Well, MS can't make money from browser, so they have no interest in wasting resources there. And it is understandable. If MS couldn't make money on mac out of one drive, office, etc. -> there would be no interest from MS for macOS, and no .NET for macs

If Apple ever finds that they can make money on Xcode running on Windows, don't worry, cocoa + Xcode will be there. Just like iTunes and some other apps are.