Shopping list for developing Windows app on Mac

Question

Folks, I need to maintain a C#/.Net desktop application. So, I need to set myself up with Windows(7?) and Visual Studio.

My current development machine is a Macbook Pro and I would like to continue using it. Overall, I am considering the following recipe:

• Install VMWare Fusion or Parallels or VirtualBox for running the Windows OS
• Buy a version of Windows to develop on
• Buy Windows Developer tools

Having been in the open source universe all this time, I am utterly unfamiliar with the options/packages in the Windows world. I could use some help on the following:

• Does the recipe above look fine, or do I need to change something?
• What is a good VM environment to buy/use? VirtualBox is free, but Parallels/VMWare promise Windows app that blend in with my Mac windows. Could use some help on this topic
• Does MSFT sell a package deal which has bare bones Windows 7 and the necessary dev tools, or do I need to buy the OS and dev tools separately?
• Since I only need Windows to churn this C# desktop application, What is the OS version and flavor or Visual Studio I should get?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

-Raj

Answer 1

* Does the recipe above look fine, or do I need to change something?

Looks fine to me, it is what I do too.

* What is a good VM environment to buy/use? VirtualBox is free, but

Parallels/VMWare promise Windows app that blend in with my Mac windows. Could use some help on this topic

I've used parallels and VMware fusion and I prefer VMware because I can move machines to other VMware hosts relatively easily. They seem to flip-flop when it comes to performance, but I think this week, Parallels is a little faster (of course this might change with the next fusion update, or the next parallels update).

* Does MSFT sell a package deal which has bare bones Windows 7 and the

necessary dev tools, or do I need to buy the OS and dev tools separately?

I think that this depends on what you are doing. If you purchase an MSDN subscription, you get software that you can use for development (including all windows versions). But if you just purchase Visual Studio, then you need to buy the OS too.

* Since I only need Windows to churn this C# desktop application,

What is the OS version and flavor or Visual Studio I should get?

You should get whichever OS versions you intend to support your application on.

Good luck,

--jed

Answer 2

Doesn't a Mac have Boot Camp? If so, use that. It looks fine though. You must buy the OS then the Dev tools (There's Visual C# Express for free though). I would get Windows 7 and either the newest Visual Studio (2008, but 2010 is being released on April 12).

Answer 3

I've used both Bootcamp and VMWare Fusion with 15" MacBook Pro for quite a while (2013 and 2018 models). Bootcamp is better in terms of battery life. Though in terms of performance, Windows VM under macOS can be a better dev box due to significant difference in SSD performance - it's way faster in VM rather than in Bootcamp, especially in random reads/writes (which is crucial for project build time).