Developers speak out on the big switch (part I)

Following this Monday's keynote, MacosXrumors asked the opinion of some software developers about Apple's switch to Intel processors.

We approached prominent Mac developers as well as other industry players, including Apple competitors. It is noteworthy that most developers working with the Macintosh responded favourably to the transition to Intel CPUs.

Here is what some of the industry players had to say:

Alias, Kevin Tureski, Director Engineering, Maya Product Development:
"Alias products such as Maya and Sketchbook Pro have proven very popular on the Apple platform. Apple is a key partner in our business now and in the future. We're encouraged to see Apple adopting an industry standard processor and Alias is currently reviewing the technical implications. We enjoy an excellent relationship with Apple and will work closely with them through this transition."

OmniGroup, Ken Case, CEO:
"We're looking forward to the Intel switch: we already have experience with developing our applications for multiple CPU architectures (from our experience on the NeXT platform, where we simultaneously supported NeXT, Intel, HP, and SPARC processors) and it adds the benefit of more hardware options with only a little additional mental discipline.
(By the way, our open source application frameworks still include support for the Intel processor, and may work without any changes at all.)"

Skype Technologies, Kelly Larabee, Media Relations:
"Skype is looking forward to supporting the innovative products that will come from this new partnership. We are eager to test the transition kit with Skype and we intend to be fully compatible with the new systems well before their release to the public."

Real Software, Geoff Perlman, president and CEO:
"REALbasic, given its cross-platform architecture, has supported x86 since 1999. So supporting Mac OS X on Intel is not a big challenge for us at all. It won't be a big deal for our customers either; our customers will simply recompile their applications with no changes to source code. As to when we will provide this capability, our customer demands help to drive our development schedules. We will make sure that we support this technology in plenty of time for our customers to test their applications for compatibility and ship them before Apple ships any Intel-based Macs."

Delicious Monster, Drew Hamlin:
"We're thrilled. Whatever processor Apple chooses to base their wonderful operating system on, we're fully behind them on it. The Intel processors have tons of promise looking forward and we'll be 100% committed to supporting Apple on this transition."

Novell and RealNetworks were unable to comment at this time. We will publish a part two of this article as further answers from developers arrive. If you are developer or represent an industry player, don't hesitate to drop us a line with your opinion.

[part I] [part II] [part III]