4 ms·

This would be great news, but I'm worried they'd stop developing the tools for other (non-MS) platforms. If anything, they need to do the opposite and make buil

This would be great news, but I'm worried they'd stop developing the tools for other (non-MS) platforms. If anything, they need to do the opposite and make building iOS apps in C# a better experience than building them in Objective-C. Right now, if I know my app will have more than just the basic animations/UI elements/etc. using Xamarin/C# just isn't an option, since I don't know if it supports a more advanced feature set.

taspeotis 13y ago
> but I'm worried they'd stop developing the tools for other (non-MS) platforms This seems like an odd concern, since Microsoft's tools for Windows are better than Xamarin's tools for Windows. They'd be buying Xamarin specifically for their non-MS tooling.
- camus2 13y ago
  or to shut it down quietly.
  - minimaximus 13y ago
    They just unveiled cross-platform OneNote. They're about to unveil Office for iPad, and Azure works with any OS. Clearly they're moving in a different direction under Satya. The old, xenophobic MS seems to have morphed into a saner, more humble company that wants to play ball with all platforms.
    - simonh 13y ago
      If they just brought out cross platform anything, it must have been in the works at least a year before Satya was appointed. More likely, they had already decided on a new approach to cross platform support and wanted a fresh face to front the new strategy.
      - scholia 13y ago
        New approach was made public when Ballmer announced that Microsoft was now a "devices and services" company...
- gum_ina_package 13y ago
  Right, my concern is that they'll shut down the tools for non-MS platforms.
  - chc 13y ago
    Then what is the point of buying Xamarin? To shrink the group of potential Windows Phone developers even smaller than it is now?
    - gum_ina_package 13y ago
      I think you misunderstand - making C# a first class programming language for ALL platforms helps Windows Phone way more than making it some half-ass solution.
- bandushrew 13y ago
  Microsoft have been purchasing cross platform applications and tools and shutting them down forever. In general it is what they do. If they do not do that for Xamarin, it would be a departure. So, I will wait and see. it does sound hopeful though.
  - outside1234 13y ago
    The thing that's different in this case is that Satya, and not the original founders, is calling the shots.
    - politician 13y ago
      I don't think that's sufficient evidence to throw your vote behind an effort that will most likely end up screwing up the most productive development environment to come along in years (C# via MonoCLR on OSX).
  - keithwarren 13y ago
    In general it is what they do. I am sorry, but that generalization merits some sources. Can you give me some examples of Microsoft buying a cross platform tool and shutting it down. Mind you I think you are inferring they purchase to eliminate competition. Not a situation where they buy something like Groove, run with it for a bit, see that it is not getting traction and then kill the product.
    - tedpeters 13y ago
      Well, it's a long time ago... but Microsoft bought our company Cooper & Peters, Inc. in 1997. We made a cross platform java ui library and a portable office clone. And yes, they really did buy us to shut down our portable work.
    - subsection1h 13y ago
      While Microsoft didn't kill Virtual PC after they bought it, they did kill its support for OS X and Linux.
kerbs 13y ago
Xamarin maps iOS and Android API's 1:1, and you usually have access to bindings within days (sometimes hours?) of SDK releases. Note the date: http://blog.xamarin.com/introducing-ios-7-support/ http://blog.xamarin.com/introducing-ios-7-support/
- tluyben2 13y ago
  Yes, for all the brilliant tech guys here, people seem to be incredibly misinformed about Xamarin. It is not like Titanium or Codenameone; it's a C# API on top of the native SDKs. It's not an abstraction, it doesn't allow you to write your frontend code one time for all platforms. And it does allow you to use all and every native feature by using the native APIs. It's just weird everyone here keeps crying about 'it has to be objective-c/java' without actually checking with Xamarin is apparently.

taspeotis 13y ago

> but I'm worried they'd stop developing the tools for other (non-MS) platforms This seems like an odd concern, since Microsoft's tools for Windows are better than Xamarin's tools for Windows. They'd be buying Xamarin specifically for their non-MS tooling.

camus2 13y ago
or to shut it down quietly.
- minimaximus 13y ago
  They just unveiled cross-platform OneNote. They're about to unveil Office for iPad, and Azure works with any OS. Clearly they're moving in a different direction under Satya. The old, xenophobic MS seems to have morphed into a saner, more humble company that wants to play ball with all platforms.
  - simonh 13y ago
    If they just brought out cross platform anything, it must have been in the works at least a year before Satya was appointed. More likely, they had already decided on a new approach to cross platform support and wanted a fresh face to front the new strategy.
    - scholia 13y ago
      New approach was made public when Ballmer announced that Microsoft was now a "devices and services" company...
gum_ina_package 13y ago
Right, my concern is that they'll shut down the tools for non-MS platforms.
- chc 13y ago
  Then what is the point of buying Xamarin? To shrink the group of potential Windows Phone developers even smaller than it is now?
  - gum_ina_package 13y ago
    I think you misunderstand - making C# a first class programming language for ALL platforms helps Windows Phone way more than making it some half-ass solution.
bandushrew 13y ago
Microsoft have been purchasing cross platform applications and tools and shutting them down forever. In general it is what they do. If they do not do that for Xamarin, it would be a departure. So, I will wait and see. it does sound hopeful though.
- outside1234 13y ago
  The thing that's different in this case is that Satya, and not the original founders, is calling the shots.
  - politician 13y ago
    I don't think that's sufficient evidence to throw your vote behind an effort that will most likely end up screwing up the most productive development environment to come along in years (C# via MonoCLR on OSX).
- keithwarren 13y ago
  In general it is what they do. I am sorry, but that generalization merits some sources. Can you give me some examples of Microsoft buying a cross platform tool and shutting it down. Mind you I think you are inferring they purchase to eliminate competition. Not a situation where they buy something like Groove, run with it for a bit, see that it is not getting traction and then kill the product.
  - tedpeters 13y ago
    Well, it's a long time ago... but Microsoft bought our company Cooper & Peters, Inc. in 1997. We made a cross platform java ui library and a portable office clone. And yes, they really did buy us to shut down our portable work.
  - subsection1h 13y ago
    While Microsoft didn't kill Virtual PC after they bought it, they did kill its support for OS X and Linux.

kerbs 13y ago

Xamarin maps iOS and Android API's 1:1, and you usually have access to bindings within days (sometimes hours?) of SDK releases. Note the date: http://blog.xamarin.com/introducing-ios-7-support/ http://blog.xamarin.com/introducing-ios-7-support/

tluyben2 13y ago
Yes, for all the brilliant tech guys here, people seem to be incredibly misinformed about Xamarin. It is not like Titanium or Codenameone; it's a C# API on top of the native SDKs. It's not an abstraction, it doesn't allow you to write your frontend code one time for all platforms. And it does allow you to use all and every native feature by using the native APIs. It's just weird everyone here keeps crying about 'it has to be objective-c/java' without actually checking with Xamarin is apparently.