I downloaded a mac app (http://www.rmartijnr.eu/) to help find the 20+ Global Cache devices I have on my property in 2012. This app was written in Realstudio as the author promoted it in the about. I had been wanting to get back into writing code from my early perl / C days and I began to use Realstudio in 2012.
I downloaded Realstudio, found @Paul Lefebvre training videos, and then found the forum.
The rest is history
I bought RealBasic for Dummies at Borders (RIP) in Santa Monica back in 2000. Late r that year,
I produced my first Mac app. Soon after, just to see, I compiled for Windows.
That is when I dumped VB and its zillion files a mother cat could not find her kittens in.
It is so long ago I don’t recall how i heard of it - it was almost 19 years ago! … I was looking for something X-Platform for a project I had in mind, but I don’t specifically recall how I ran across RB.
By MacWorld in 1998, it was then RealBasic version 1.x. Used it until version 2.1. Then a few years without and started back with RealBasic 5.4 when I remember correctly. Since then, I used RealStudio and Xojo.
Almost 8 years ago I needed a RAD X-plat IDE with an object oriented language for a project intended to run in Windows, MacOS and Linux. After a research I got 4 listed. Every one had some kind of flaw that time. One was free but had some bugs and no time-frame for a fix. One was the best for Windows but have some flaws for the rest and wasn’t cheap. Another one had a not so great, not object oriented, language. So the best cost effective, object oriented, more capable for the job, was Xojo, besides having very poor object library and a useless report writer. That project was later abandoned and a few less ambitious were done after.
About 4 years ago I needed to be able to read and write to an .rsd file (sqlite). A google search brought me here. The link kept taking me to Xojo. Since I didn’t have any prior programming experience except Excel VBA (self taught), it was pretty easy to start using Xojo. I’ve now built a thriving software business, and have moved on to other development technologies, but Xojo was a great stepping stone. The examples were a tremendous help.
2017 i took over the programming of some apps (for Windows) from somebody else.
As these programs were written in XOJO I needed necessarely to switch to XOJO.
Before I was using Visual Studio.
My father, who has his own software company, uses Dolphin Smalltalk for years which started my journey on OOP. Given that 11 / 12 years ago I made the switch to Mac, I was not able to bring Dolphin with me which lead me on a search for a Mac based OOP solution. After a number of google searches, I came across Real Studio where I downloaded the trail which quickly turned from wow to this is perfect and made purchase.
Was looking for a IDE/language similar to VB6 but actually made/updated this decade, and stumbled onto it by accident on Google after trying a few IDEs that were pretty lousy. Still one of the best alternatives that exist to VB6, IMO.
I really didn’t want to use Xojo, I desperately wanted there to be VS for Mac. After hoping beyond hoping and waiting 5+ years after the announcement for it to happen trying to make things with Xamarin, I finally gave up. Tried Delphi, Lazarus, and other tools, and finally Xojo. (I hadn’t heard of it until a friend said he was using it).
I was happy to find that it actually works, and it’s really starting to grow on me. I don’t think I’d be able to write a MacOS app without it. I simply cannot get my head around Swift/Obj-C and Xcode. It’s like an alien language. Luckily Xojo hides all that from me so I can just write apps. I have to give them credit for doing such an amazing job of building a Cross-Platform RAD.
Back in 2006 I was a windows guy, but VISTA changed all that… and I went macOS and never looked back. But since I had been using VB6 (hated VB.NET) I needed “something”. So I started searching… ObjBASIC, KBasic, and 1/2 dozen others just didn’t cut it… RealBasic seemed to meet the criteria… so I took the chance and invested $100…and been here ever since. Although I have to be honest… I (like others) are now searching for something else, as this 2019R2/2.1 - API2.0 debacle has left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m already attemtping to create my own replacement (which is showing great promise so far)
At the end of 2011 I had the need to write a couple of small applications to collect/process data during my research. While I am a Mac user, the applications also had to run on Windows. I did some research on the internet and Real Studio seemed to be among the most promising candidates to quickly and easily create what I needed. I decided to redo an applications I previously developed with Xcode/Objective-C with Real Studio, simply to see if it could be viable solution - and it was. With a little help from the old forum (http://forums.realsoftware.com) I could finish the rewrite of the application using Real Studio in a surprisingly short time, I even was able to add some new features during the process. Today most of my development is still done with Xojo.
Yup, filled out the survey from the link on your blog.
I don’t remember when I first heard about it, but it was RealBasic back then and I had the O’Reilly book. Probably heard about it through a Mac publication.
[quote=469345:@Norman Palardy]did you fill out the survey at all ?
that was bobs original point[/quote]
I did.
Hopefully, once time permits for @Bob Keeney and the survey has closed, he’ll publish the results on his blog, and maybe here?
I went to look at it this morning to see how the results were going, but once you finished your part, the site doesn’t appear to let you look at the results again (I guess unless you signup or something).
Anyway, I heard about RealBasic from a colleague about 15 years ago. I’ve always been mainly a web developer, so the thought of building some Desktop apps at some point always intrigued me, so I’ve always kept RealBasic/Xojo in mind until I bought a license a few years ago. Because sometimes this huge web project I’ve been working on for years, with my employer, can bore me to tears.
Xojo helps to keep me a little more sane than I am ;-b
So far a vast majority have found Xojo via a web search. Which in my search for cross-platform developments tools I’ve not come across Xojo much. I must be using different search terms than most other people.