Apple’s switch to Intel processors and the release of virtualization software has opened up a strange new world: Windows software is being developed on a Mac. The Mac DevCenter writes of one Jamie Frater, a programmer, who develops Windows apps via Parallels Desktop on his Mac. In this way he runs Delphi without interrupting his workflow and dealing with the “clunky” Windows environment:
Obviously I have to continue programming in Windows for a living at the moment, but the good news is that I am now doing so in a window on my Mac. I hate going back to a standard Windows machine now. The OS is just so clunky … I can't believe so many people are still using Windows and don't realise how superior OS X is!
Perhaps this is the start of a new era? Will more and more developers begin to realize the stable and user-friendly environment of OS X? The biggest problem is that most developers of Windows apps will be committed to the Windows platform, as why else would they be developing for it? Well, maybe someday it will happen…
I am a Microsoft .Net and Java developer and I own a MacBook. Here @ work me and another developer bring our personal MacBooks and use Parallels to run Windows and code in .Net. The Windows experience is so much better just by the fact of using Apple hardware.
I agree with "Z". I program Windows applications on my MacBook (and iMac) using Parallels (Delphi and .Net).
For the time being that is how I'm managing to pay the bills; but soon I will break on to the Mac Dev scene (and hopefully be counted in the Old School generation).
I don't mean this in a bad way; but I have found the Mac Devs (Old School) to be more encouraging to new comers like myself than the devs on the Windows side.