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  3. As a desktop app developer, would you target Mac OS and Linux?

As a desktop app developer, would you target Mac OS and Linux?

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  • J jpg 0

    Since most people use Windows

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    Maximilien
    wrote on last edited by
    #14

    If your application is in the multimedia/sound/graphic domain :probably yes. (for example lightroom (photo), traktor (dj), resolume (vj) ) if not : no.

    Watched code never compiles.

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    • D Dan Neely

      Doesn't mono use it's own (GTK based??) UI library instead of winforms/wpf?

      Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius

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      BobJanova
      wrote on last edited by
      #15

      There is a bit of a terminology issue here, I think. System.Windows.Forms (and whatever the WPF one is called, as well, I think) has been translated for Mono so that it works with the native operating system window manager. So from a .Net developer perspective, you don't need to do anything different, except allow for different control styles as the UI themes are different.

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      • G Gary Wheeler

        With hollow-point ammunition, definitely.

        Software Zen: delete this;

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        Colin Mullikin
        wrote on last edited by
        #16

        :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That just made my day!

        The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

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        • C Colin Mullikin

          :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That just made my day!

          The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

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          Gary Wheeler
          wrote on last edited by
          #17

          All part of the friendly service :-D.

          Software Zen: delete this;

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          • B BobJanova

            There is a bit of a terminology issue here, I think. System.Windows.Forms (and whatever the WPF one is called, as well, I think) has been translated for Mono so that it works with the native operating system window manager. So from a .Net developer perspective, you don't need to do anything different, except allow for different control styles as the UI themes are different.

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            Dan Neely
            wrote on last edited by
            #18

            I think I'm just out of date. Gtk#[^] is one of mono's UI libraries, and the history[^] for mono's winform library includes two initial failed attempts, implying it was a relative latecomer to the platform (although specific dates aren't given anywhere I can see).

            Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius

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            • J jpg 0

              Since most people use Windows

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              PIEBALDconsult
              wrote on last edited by
              #19

              What are those? :confused:

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              • J jpg 0

                Since most people use Windows

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                Mike Hankey
                wrote on last edited by
                #20

                I would think a 50 cal. sniper scope would do the job nicely?

                I may be schizophrenic, but at least I have each other.

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                • G Gary Wheeler

                  With hollow-point ammunition, definitely.

                  Software Zen: delete this;

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                  Kyle Sponable
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #21

                  Yeah I know you windoze boys are sorta jealous of the computational superiority of the *nix architecture ;P

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                  • K Kyle Sponable

                    Yeah I know you windoze boys are sorta jealous of the computational superiority of the *nix architecture ;P

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                    Gary R Wheeler
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #22

                    CG says it best[^]

                    Software Zen: delete this;

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                    • G Gary Wheeler

                      With hollow-point ammunition, definitely.

                      Software Zen: delete this;

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                      BobJanova
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #23

                      Well played sir.

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                      • J jpg 0

                        Since most people use Windows

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                        Zan Lynx
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #24

                        Yep. I would. I like targeting multiple platforms because it forces a certain mindset about portability. I find it improves the design and keeps the GUI more separate from the functionality. It also exposes the code to a lot more build environments which can expose subtle bugs. I like building for ARM, IA64 and PPC for the same reasons.

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                        • C Christian Graus

                          We target Mac. Linux users have no money, or, at least, prefer not to pay for software

                          Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

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                          MSHYYC
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #25

                          This depends on your business model. Red Hat and IBM make a great deal of money from Linux users, but their revenue is not from a product-based model, it is from a services-and-solutions based model. You also miss a huge portion of some markets if you neglect Linux (in particular, mobile and embedded systems). Android, an OS that uses the Linux kernel, has the top market share in mobile--even if the stereotype were even partly true that "linux users don't pay for software" I think it's a pretty safe bet that There is more revene potential for an Android app than for a Windows Phone app ;-)

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                          • D David1987

                            Nope, not a big enough audience to justify the extra testing. If people use Wine/Mono/whatever to run it on Linux and it works, good for them. If it doesn't, too bad.

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                            CodeBuilderUSA
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #26

                            Definitely targeting Windows and OS X in my development efforts. Products such as Real Studio make it a no-brainer. Code the app in your favorite OS then compile for Windows, OS X and Linux.

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                            • J jpg 0

                              Since most people use Windows

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                              MSHYYC
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #27

                              I do almost all my development ON Linux, but FOR varying targets. I run my consulting business on all Linux machines and would never EVER go back to Windows (I migrated my Windows 2000 server based setup some years ago to SuSE, then to Ubuntu. Upgrading to Win 2003 and maintaining my MSDN subscription was not financially feasible during lean times). I still do a great deal of work on Windows but Server 2008 and Windows 7 have left me unimpressed for the most part--for what I do they offer little to no value for their cost. Insofar as what I develop FOR, it is in this order: 1. I do not develop for an OS at all, I target frameworks and/or standards and/or languages that are OS-agnostic to some degree (GTK, qt, .NET, (x)HTML, Python, Perl, etc). The OS can then be almost irrelevant as it should be. 2. Upon the (strong) insistence of a customer I'll develop with a specific OS in mind (usually Windows) Generally to be cost-competitive, and because for most customers I have do not have a strong preference, I develop almost exclusivly for Linux for server applications. However the question was about DESKTOP apps market reality is that they have to work on Windows machines. Doesn't mean that they can't be ported to run on other OSes with little to no work. MSFT has one product that us relatively pleasurable to use compared to its competition and that is Visual Studio. The drawbacks are that it only runs on Windows and that it is far too easy to develop an application locked into a Windows-only .NET environment. So, though I miss it, I do not regularly use it (and the only time I CAN use it is on a client's system, since my systems are not Windows).

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                              • J jpg 0

                                Since most people use Windows

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                                wbaxter37
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #28

                                Try Qt (IDE and framework). You can write code for all three and their application framework can target each platform. Looks like the hottest thing is mobile, unfortunately for me.

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                                • J jpg 0

                                  Since most people use Windows

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                                  dazfuller
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #29

                                  Yes, because not all users use windows. Also for those saying that Linux users prefer not to pay, I know plenty of Linux users who do pay and are prepared to pay for good quality software (note I said quality, if you're product isn't better than a free one then what's it worth?). The Humble Indie Bundle is a testament to that fact. My personal opinion is that if you're making software for users in general, i.e. not for internal customers or external customers with very rigid requirements, then you should target as many platforms as possible. Users should choose apps for their OS, not an OS for their apps.

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                                  • J jpg 0

                                    Since most people use Windows

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                                    M Towler
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #30

                                    The company I work for does, because many of our customers are academics. Academics don't like paying for software, but do like spending money on Macs - and not spending money on linux machines :). Linux is more of a server system, but often where there are only one or two users the server is also the machine for viewing the results on. Asking the customers what they use only works up to a point, on the basis that if you only support windows they won't be your customers if they cannot use the software. What you are interested in is how many new customers you would get if you supported a new platform, or how many would leave if you dropped one. My experience is that when one is dropped usually users complain, but as long as there is a viable option they will move. That said there were one or two who got very upset when we dropped support for their decade old irix machine!

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                                    • C Christian Graus

                                      We target Mac. Linux users have no money, or, at least, prefer not to pay for software

                                      Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

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                                      arsanias
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #31

                                      That's my experience too. I have a Qt application for Windows, Linux and MacOS. Windows makes 98% of the business, MacOs 2%, Linux 0%. The interesting part is that this doesn't reflect the download statistic of the demo version. There is roughly 10% for Linux and less than 2% for MacOs, but virtually nobody buys the Linux version. With that attitude, Linux will never become a mature platform. I'm about to cancel the Linux version. It's only the ease of cross-compiling a Qt project for Linux that makes me releasing to Linux binaries.

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