Why Not Windows

I was recently asked about a post I wrote on a Linux Desktop for a .NET Developer. I have been a fan of .NET most of my career. Fell away a bit there when cloud was all Open Source. But as we are seeing this complete change in .NET. Going from a close source and single ecosystem language to being all in as Open Source. This transition has been years in the making and isn’t finished yet. But, without a doubt this has been a great change.

Someone asked me “why don’t you use Windows to develop?” First there is nothing wrong with Windows. Even for development. Where it becomes a problem is when corporate setup of a Windows workstation. And trying to develop is a slow grog. Where builds take minutes instead of seconds. That isn’t Windows that is corporate IT not doing their job. But since the start of this transition to being Open Source I have made it a point to not develop .NET on Windows. This for one reason, to show how .NET isn’t always dependent on Windows.

For years .NET has been wholly dependent on running on Windows. And not to mention you had to use Windows to develop on. Back to the Ballmer days. All, Microsoft always. But as those days are gone and Satya’s direction is much different from that. So focusing on other OS to develop and run .NET is to show that. .NET has changed and what better way to show it without using Windows. Sure, there are some libraries that need Windows to run. Not arguing that it’s needed for that. And for apps that need those libraries break out that Windows workstation and have at it.

Developing .NET on a Mac or Linux machine has pushed me out of my comfort zone. Sure, I can still go back to a Windows machine and develop. Even run my app’s on Windows Servers. This choice to show .NET is cross platform and it runs great on Windows, Linux or even Mac.