Firstly, cross platform apps are the only reason the Mac still exists. Without Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InDesign, Word, Excel, Flash and the like, the Mac would have petered into non-existence - or at least total irrelevancy - years ago. (You could argue that Linux has grown without any of those; however it is an open source system whose success was built on open source apps - basically it's foundation for success has been low cost. But, if those apps came to Linux, it would kick Windows off the planet.)
So to say "The thing is Mac users just don't want cross-platform apps." is incorrect. They might not care if say a SuperDuper or a Adium or a NetNewswire is cross platform or not, but apps that are significant in the Windows world, they do want. Consider the push *still* for AudtoCAD to go cross platform. In the business world, Macs would greatly benfit form Visio and Project coming across.
Secondly, Firefox is not a good example. No open source cross platform apps spring to mind that are ideal Mac citizens. It is just par for the course. So that argument should be taken up with the whole open source development community. You'd be better off using the example of a traditional and successful Windows app that has made the transition, but failed to Mac-ify as good as it should.
Thirdly, your statements seem to change from talking about Mac developers not wanting to develop cross platform apps (which I'd agree with) to the opposite direction of development, that is "Bringing an application across from Windows". But I suspect your article is really about the former, i.e., if Macs developers develop for cross-platform, they might either have to lose features in the Win version, or sacrifice them on both.
Fourthly (sorry for these adding up!), with the trend towards web-based applications, we will see the diminishment of the OS influencing the design of an app. In some cases, I'm seeing this as wonderful thing, with designer/developers producing some great interface innovations, although there are some bad examples too.
Lastly, I run a site that promotes cross form apps - CrossOSS and I've been really surprised by the depth and breadth of cross platform development. There is a lot more cross platform apps out there, and development than we realize.
by Chris Howard — Mar 22
Firstly, cross platform apps are the only reason the Mac still exists. Without Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InDesign, Word, Excel, Flash and the like, the Mac would have petered into non-existence - or at least total irrelevancy - years ago. (You could argue that Linux has grown without any of those; however it is an open source system whose success was built on open source apps - basically it's foundation for success has been low cost. But, if those apps came to Linux, it would kick Windows off the planet.)
So to say "The thing is Mac users just don't want cross-platform apps." is incorrect. They might not care if say a SuperDuper or a Adium or a NetNewswire is cross platform or not, but apps that are significant in the Windows world, they do want. Consider the push *still* for AudtoCAD to go cross platform. In the business world, Macs would greatly benfit form Visio and Project coming across.
Secondly, Firefox is not a good example. No open source cross platform apps spring to mind that are ideal Mac citizens. It is just par for the course. So that argument should be taken up with the whole open source development community. You'd be better off using the example of a traditional and successful Windows app that has made the transition, but failed to Mac-ify as good as it should.
Thirdly, your statements seem to change from talking about Mac developers not wanting to develop cross platform apps (which I'd agree with) to the opposite direction of development, that is "Bringing an application across from Windows". But I suspect your article is really about the former, i.e., if Macs developers develop for cross-platform, they might either have to lose features in the Win version, or sacrifice them on both.
Fourthly (sorry for these adding up!), with the trend towards web-based applications, we will see the diminishment of the OS influencing the design of an app. In some cases, I'm seeing this as wonderful thing, with designer/developers producing some great interface innovations, although there are some bad examples too.
Lastly, I run a site that promotes cross form apps - CrossOSS and I've been really surprised by the depth and breadth of cross platform development. There is a lot more cross platform apps out there, and development than we realize.