Why are app developers porting to Apple Silicon and not to Linux?

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Today we're going to address something that is regularly pointed out to me in the comments: why would third party application developers go through all the trouble of porting their apps to Apple Silicon, which is a whole new architecture, and not do a port for Linux, which runs mostly on x86 CPUs, same as what Macs and Windows computers generally run up to that point

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00:00 Intro 01:29 Market Share 02:38 Developer Tools 04:27 App Distribution 07:45 The elementary exception 09:47 Parting Thoughts

The first main reason for developers taking the time to port their apps, is market share. But wait a minute, Apple might be very present in the US, but in the rest of the world, Macs just aren't all that common.

According to StatCounter, Windows still holds 73.5% of the market, with Mac OS commanding 15.87%. That's small, but it's still a lot higher than Linux on the desktop, which only holds 2.38% marketshare.

So, obviously, as a developer, if you look at these numbers, you're going to invest time porting your app to the new Apple platform, and not to Linux.

Second reason is developer tools.

Apple is known for restricting what they allow on their platforms, but they also have very good developer tools. They have their own IDE, Xcode, their preferred programming languages, with Swift and Objective C, and they have tons and tons of online resources and documentation to help you get started.

There is no "standardized starter kit" on Linux that would give you a quick and easy starting point. You have to pick between the language you want to use, between GTK or Qt, or Clutter, or something else, and then find some tutorials and documentation by yourself, and get coding.

Apple has simple guides and checklists to help you look at what you need to take care of, when you start porting your app to their new architecture. it's a guided process, and you can keep using the tools you were already using: same language, same IDE, same compilation process.

I think it all comes down to the process: on the Apple platform, you have a v ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaX5Se8bV90