Microsoft is retiring its Visible Studio for Mac IDE. The corporate advises builders on Mac to hunt alternate options such because the C# Dev Package for Visible Studio Code and different extensions that allow .NET improvement.
Citing ongoing person suggestions and utilization patterns for Visible Studio for Mac, Microsoft on August 30 mentioned it’s now focusing efforts on optimizing its Visible Studio IDE, obtainable by the Microsoft Dev Field service on Azure for builders on any OS, and in addition the C# Dev Package for VS Code, additionally obtainable for any OS. With the retirement, Visible Studio for Mac 17.6 will likely be supported till August 31, 2024.
Microsoft mentioned it’s redirecting assets to reinforce each Visible Studio and Visible Studio Code and optimize them for cross-platform improvement. No new framework, language assist, or runtime will likely be added to Visible Studio for Mac. For the following yr, the corporate will present important updates similar to servicing updates for vital bug fixes, safety points, and up to date Apple platforms.
Runtime and workload updates additionally will likely be supplied in order that builders can proceed constructing purposes on the .NET 6, .NET 7, and Mono frameworks. Whereas .NET 8 will not be formally supported, the corporate additionally has enabled rudimentary assist for .NET 8 in Visible Studio for Mac for constructing and debugging purposes.
Microsoft recommends the next alternate options to Visible Studio for Mac:
- Just lately introduced C# Dev Package, .NET Maui, and Unity extensions for Visible Studio Code, which can be found in preview. These extensions, which increase Visible Studio Code’s capabilities for C# and .NET builders, function natively throughout all supported platforms together with macOS. The expertise utilizing these will proceed to be improved as they transfer from preview to basic availability and past, Microsoft mentioned.
- Visible Studio on Home windows in a digital machine on Mac, which provides legacy mission assist for Xamarin, F#, and distant improvement on iOS through a VM.
- Visible Studio on Home windows in a VM within the cloud, through Microsoft Dev Field.
As of August 31, 2024, Visible Studio for Mac will likely be obtainable as a legacy set up solely through my.visualstudio.com for customers with Visible Studio subscriptions, however it would not be maintained or serviced. Customers with assist agreements could have entry to technical assist till August 31, 2024.
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