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Comment on "Cocoa for Windows Will Not Happen"
by Ken Wilcox — Oct 19
I have to admit I've liked reading this article as well as the comments. I too would like to see something like Yellow Box again, but I agree with Scott in that I don't see why Apple would want to do so.

An argument presented is that Apple already has applications on the Windows platform. True, but what applications are these. I only know of two - QuickTime and iTunes. Why did Apple make these for Windows?

My guess - Why would anyone encode a video and place it on the Internet and only have a small margin of individuals be able to play it. Apple wanted QuickTime to be used. To make it a strong selling point it had to be available for Windows.

iTunes. This should be obvious, but hasn't been mentioned. What was the iPod market share before Windows support was added? I don't know the exact number, but I knew very little about it before then. iTunes for Windows comes out, and the flood gates were opened. Now that the two are closely intertwined, you can't even get one without the other anymore.

Now reverse it. iLife for Windows? Heck no! That application bundle is what caused me to finally buy a Mac 2.5 years ago. This is a strong selling point for their hardware. If it existed on Windows, why buy a Mac. Caveat: I loved using the Mac 14 years ago when I was in graphic arts and have always wanted one, so it was an easy push.

Commercial Developers do not write applications for fun. As a developer I have to justify the cost of learning against potential return. - I've written several commercial "Windows Only" applications, and I've written a few apps/utils just for fun. I love learning new languages and platforms. Cost of learning? What about the cost of NOT learning? I think it's a great idea to explore new languages, tools and platforms. Sure, you can't always take what you learn and apply it everywhere to make money, but sometimes you can, and that's where the hidden rewards are. Your experience my vary, but this is what I've seen in my life.

why do you suppose had Apple went through the trouble of keeping a separate x86 build of OS X around since day one? Not only because of chip availability, but what about "chipset" lock in? People complain all the time about vendor lock in, why not chipsets? I now work for a company that makes embedded systems and I'm on the firmware team. We recently transitioned from a MIPS chip to x86. It took a lot less time that I thought it would and with what we learned we now have two other chips on the development board. So, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Apple had OSX for other chips. The Intel announcement was a disappointment, as I really like the PowerPC.

I'm new to Mac/Cocoa development, but I am enjoying the plethora of information that I'm consuming. Thanks Scott for making it readily/freely available! Sorry for the long post.
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