Mac OS surpasses Linux for software development

SANTA CRUZ, USA: The Mac operating systems has surpassed Linux in popularity as a development environment in North America according to the recently released Evans Data North American Development survey.

Although Windows remains overwhelmingly the most popular operating system for development with over 80 percent of developers using it, Linux has slipped to third place with only 5.6 percent using it as their primary development platform, while 7.9 percent now use Mac OS.

Also read: Linux to dominate mobile market by 2015

"Apple has made tremendous strides in the last few years with innovative products and technologies," said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data Corp.

"So it's quite reasonable to see developers adopting the Mac and its OS as a development environment. Windows firmly remains king, but developers are obviously attracted to Apple’s devices, while at the same time Linux has lost some of its luster after years of only single digit adoption," added Garvin.

Also read: Developers take a shift from Windows to Linux

Mac OS has not, however, displaced Linux as a development target. Still more than twice as many developers primarily target Linux as do Mac.

Other highlights from this comprehensive survey of over 400 professional software developers in North America, conducted June 2011 include:

* Developers believe Mobile and Cloud development will increase the most in importance over the next three years, followed distantly by open source and plug-in architecture. The DevOps phenomenon will be least important.

* Adobe’s BlazeDS is being well received in North America with over a third of developers using or expecting to use this.

* Almost half (47.3 per cent) of North American developers use or expect to use Java ME.