It wasn’t particularly unexpected, but it’s always hard to believe that such a great application would disappear, even more so after what happened when we almost lost a popular application in the past. Microsoft has confirmed the retirement of Visual Studio for Mac’s integrated development environment. The last version for this system will be 17.6, which will continue to receive updates until August 31, 2024, but after that support will end and whoever uses it will be at their own risk. This decision, which according to Microsoft has been taken after analyzing feedback from its users and application behavior patterns, will lead to concentrate resources and optimize Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code options.
What’s next?
Microsoft is clear and has made it known to users: the ideal situation is for them to start using Visual Studio Code with the new C# development kit as well as other related extensions. If any developer needs for some reason to use Visual Studio from a Mac, they will have the option to do so via a virtual machine or in the cloud. Likewise, although Mac has not yet lost support completely, it will not receive new languages or frameworks, so it will slowly become obsolete before the end of its support.
For those who used to use this program on Mac, the alternatives are not scarce, although perhaps the best of them is Rider, a cross-platform IDE that supports various frameworks and languages, including .NET, ASP.NET, .NET Core, Xamarin and Unity. However, its versatility is not the only positive point, as its feature-rich nature and ease of use can make the transition from one development environment to another seamless.
In any case, the withdrawal of Visual Studio for Mac leaves an empty space that many developers may notice. However, it also opens the door to explore other environments with different or even more specialized functionalities, so we can only wait and see what this uncertain but exciting future holds.
