Microsoft has announced that it is retiring the Visual Studio for Mac integrated development environment (IDE). The announcement provides details on the timeline and implications for current users. Effective August 31st, 2024, Microsoft will discontinue support for Visual Studio for Mac. The company will instead concentrate on improving Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code for cross-platform development.
Earlier this year, Visual Studio v17.5 hit general availability featuring All-In-One Search.
Visual Studio for Mac will not receive any new support for frameworks, runtimes, or languages. However, it will receive critical bug fixes, security updates, and runtime/workload updates for Mono frameworks and .NET 6 and 7 for the next 12 months.
Visual Studio for Mac 17.6 will be supported until August 31st, 2024, with ongoing updates for security and Apple platforms. Microsoft recommends C# Dev Kit for VS Code as an alternative to enhance .NET development on Mac.
Microsoft aims to optimize Visual Studio, accessible through Microsoft Dev Box on any operating system, and the C# Dev Kit for Visual Studio Code, accessible on any OS.
Microsoft suggests these alternative solutions for users:
- VS Code with C# Dev Kit: Enhanced capabilities for .NET/C# development.
- Visual Studio IDE in VM: Full IDE on Windows in a VM on Mac for broader needs.
- Visual Studio IDE in Cloud VM: Cloud-hosted option for .NET/C# development.
This announcement outlines the transition plan for users of Visual Studio for Mac, providing alternative solutions and a timeline for the retirement of the IDE.