Microsoft Releases Visual Studio Development Suite for Mac

Microsoft today launched the finished 2017 version of Visual Studio for Mac, wrapping up a review period that lasted months. Visual Studio for Mac is an integrated development environment (IDE) that can be used to create mobile and web applications, intelligent services and cross-platform games for various operating systems within one environment. The Mac-native version, like previous Windows versions, can be used to create applications for all of Apple’s operating systems and Android, as well as web- and cloud-based services and apps. Visual Studio, which is powered by .NET Core and Xamarin, is also capable of taking advantage of platform-specific features.

“Developers get a great IDE and a single environment to not only work on end-to-end solutions — from mobile and web apps to games — but also to integrate with and deploy to Azure,” the company wrote in a press release. “Whether you use C#, F#, .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, Xamarin or Unity, you’ll get a best-in-class development environment, natively designed for Mac.”

Prior to today’s release, Visual Studio had solely been a Windows development suite — owing to Microsoft’s previous staunch opposition to releasing software and services on non-Microsoft platforms and systems. In recent years, the Seattle-based company has changed its tune and has subtly shifted to more of a platform-agnostic software and service maker.

The Mac version of the development suite was first released in a preview build back in November of last year. Microsoft announced the release at its Build keynote on Wednesday, May 10. For users currently testing a preview build of the development suite, an option to upgrade should be available. Anyone else can download the IDE from Microsoft’s website — most of the core features are free, but professional-level use may require a subscription.