Hey, someone replied :-) Actually I figured it wasn't the kind of thing to discuss as such, just thought I'd put my experience out there in case it might be useful.
My preferred os is still OSX, then Vista then Linux at the moment. It's a pity, I was hoping Linux would be nicer to use but it is very technical and some of the hoops you have to go through are just archaic in this modern world of GUI's and buttons.
I am not entirely sure at this point which os's can see which other os's. I know Linux is pretty good at being able to see OSX and possibly also Windows. OSX itself can normally only access Windows as read only, and it would not show Linux at all. I installed a `thing` that lets me see the Linux partition booted, but again it's mainly read only. I am not sure about Windows but I think it can see at least one of the other two partitions. Either way there is some way to distribute a file to all of the os's in one way or another, either that you copy a file `to` an os or read it `from` an os within another.
Also I am running Parallels Desktop which I highly recommend. Apart from being able to do things like use the clipboard across os's in realtime it also has a file transfer utility which lets you move files between any of the running os's. I haven't tested it out much yet but I'm sure it will come in handy.
I guess you have a point about Universal binaries. Personally I prefer a single binary for my CPU and hopefully when PPC machines are more phased out that will be easy to do, but I can see how the average or basic user wouldn't know what the difference is and would need the Universal Binary.
I don't personally WANT to support windows and linux as target platforms for my software, but the sheer size of the Windows market compared to the Mac market makes it very hard to resist. I have to put aside my continued dislike for Windows and tolerate it for the benefit of being able to provide access to more people and to hopefully therefore enjoy many more sales. As for linux it is almost more of a curiosity than a need as I know the market is fairly small, but I think the market will continue to increase because everyone loves something for free or for little cost. I thought it would be just a good jesjure and also kind of cool to make my software available for it - but that said I haven't tried doing that yet so we'll see how it works out.
It's funny but when you put os's up alongside each other, and especially if you're running them simultaneously in parallel like with Parallels Desktop, it starts to really blur your preference for which one you use. They start to look a feel quite alike and the differences between them start to look less and less. After all, putting personal preference aside, each platform is basically just a target platform - a way to get my software to work on a given piece of hardware, and the whole point of an operating system is to interface between the software and the hardware. So I'm not really being anti patriotic or whatever by wanting to get my stuff to run on more platforms. It's more of a business decision. My loyalty to any given platform is a lot thinner than it used to be in the Amiga days and it doesn't really matter to me so much what the platform is. I just know that BlitzMax is great for cross-platform OpenGL-based development and that's where my focus is. If BRL came out with like a web-based plugin execution system for BlitzMax programs, or maybe to run on some other CPU's devices, I'd probably be interesting in getting those just to widen my audience. After all what's more important, having a bigger audience with greater accessibility to your product, or shutting out a potential audience due to a personal dislike for their choices?
Rant over.
My preferred os is still OSX, then Vista then Linux at the moment. It's a pity, I was hoping Linux would be nicer to use but it is very technical and some of the hoops you have to go through are just archaic in this modern world of GUI's and buttons.
I am not entirely sure at this point which os's can see which other os's. I know Linux is pretty good at being able to see OSX and possibly also Windows. OSX itself can normally only access Windows as read only, and it would not show Linux at all. I installed a `thing` that lets me see the Linux partition booted, but again it's mainly read only. I am not sure about Windows but I think it can see at least one of the other two partitions. Either way there is some way to distribute a file to all of the os's in one way or another, either that you copy a file `to` an os or read it `from` an os within another.
Also I am running Parallels Desktop which I highly recommend. Apart from being able to do things like use the clipboard across os's in realtime it also has a file transfer utility which lets you move files between any of the running os's. I haven't tested it out much yet but I'm sure it will come in handy.
I guess you have a point about Universal binaries. Personally I prefer a single binary for my CPU and hopefully when PPC machines are more phased out that will be easy to do, but I can see how the average or basic user wouldn't know what the difference is and would need the Universal Binary.
I don't personally WANT to support windows and linux as target platforms for my software, but the sheer size of the Windows market compared to the Mac market makes it very hard to resist. I have to put aside my continued dislike for Windows and tolerate it for the benefit of being able to provide access to more people and to hopefully therefore enjoy many more sales. As for linux it is almost more of a curiosity than a need as I know the market is fairly small, but I think the market will continue to increase because everyone loves something for free or for little cost. I thought it would be just a good jesjure and also kind of cool to make my software available for it - but that said I haven't tried doing that yet so we'll see how it works out.
It's funny but when you put os's up alongside each other, and especially if you're running them simultaneously in parallel like with Parallels Desktop, it starts to really blur your preference for which one you use. They start to look a feel quite alike and the differences between them start to look less and less. After all, putting personal preference aside, each platform is basically just a target platform - a way to get my software to work on a given piece of hardware, and the whole point of an operating system is to interface between the software and the hardware. So I'm not really being anti patriotic or whatever by wanting to get my stuff to run on more platforms. It's more of a business decision. My loyalty to any given platform is a lot thinner than it used to be in the Amiga days and it doesn't really matter to me so much what the platform is. I just know that BlitzMax is great for cross-platform OpenGL-based development and that's where my focus is. If BRL came out with like a web-based plugin execution system for BlitzMax programs, or maybe to run on some other CPU's devices, I'd probably be interesting in getting those just to widen my audience. After all what's more important, having a bigger audience with greater accessibility to your product, or shutting out a potential audience due to a personal dislike for their choices?
Rant over.