[TheCleric]

Exactly this. Anecdata, but the vast majority of the C# developers I know not only don't use anything but Windows, they are actively HOSTILE to non-Windows systems. Many of them view non-Windows systems as either toys ("MacOS is for graphic designers") or too spartan to be worth their time ("Linux is for sys admins").

As well with the rise of new tech/stacks that has displaced C# in a few places, the people who stay in C# tend to bristle at other OSes as that's what the people who are using the other techs use (and us vs. them type attitude).

So in the grand scheme of things, it's unsurprising that this happens.

[aryonoco]

I think this is an outdated view. I run a dev shop which develops applications in . Net + Angular. We have always given devs freedom to buy whatever laptop they want and put whatever OS they want on it, as long as they can work with everyone else. 5 or 6 years ago, we had 1 person using Ubuntu, another person using Mac, and everyone else used windows. Right now, roughly 40% are on windows, 30% develop on Mac and 30% develop on Linux (Linux has recent grown at the expense of Mac actually).

Our production environment where all applications are run is based on Debian (though we test on Windows Server as well) in a kubernetes cluster, running in Azure.

C# is decent language for writing line of business application logic, and these days .Net is a completely cross platform, open source framework.

I remember using a bunch of C#/Mono applications (F Spot, Banshee, etc, they were all the rage once) on my Linux desktop over 20 years ago.

[neonsunset]

I've worked with a team that used Rider + macOS combo in the past and have friends who had a similar experience. There are those who choose to use Neovim + csharp-ls instead, or any other combination besides the historical Windows + Visual Studio.

Keep in mind that .NET has "inherited" a huge ecosystem and developer community that existed and still exists within the confines of .NET Framework. It roughly splits into two groups - the one that is moving or has moved on to .NET and left the legacy in the past and the one that harms the ecosystem by refusing to do so. Luckily, the former is in the minority compared to the latter especially as the time goes by.

It is also helped by new generations of developers who came into working with the tech after .NET Core and .NET became the mainstay or developers who moved on to .NET from other languages and ecosystems.

[alternatex]

You're correct about that sentiment from .NET developers historically but things have changed. At Skype, a company that's been under MS for a decade, more than half the devs use Macs.

[brungarc]

C# is still my favorite language and I haven't used Windows since 2017. JetBrains Rider is my IDE of choice on a Mac. It was pretty rough during the early releases of it, but for years now it's working well enough. Also .NET Core 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 was a ride. project.json anyone?

Fastforward to .NET 5, 6, 7, 8.. it's just doing great x-plat life and innovation

[TheCleric]

I'm sure that is true. I just know the C# developers I work with now and recently fall into the camp I mention.

[kcartlidge]

Maybe we have different circles.

I'm one amongst many using Net on other systems (Mac & Linux) as well as Windows. Larger enterprises which use VS on Windows often deploy the results onto Linux servers too (especially with microservices), which is hardly being hostile.

Though to address the issue of GUIs in Net-land, I've given up as nothing since WinForms (and possibly WPF) has lasted. They are 'supported' in many cases, but it always feels half-hearted or half-dead.