I stumble across that @ Rhino OSX Forum and it makes me wonder, would that be the case this MOI as well?


>eric_m
Seems like it could almost just be an easy port over from windows.



The time, effort and expertise required to produce a version of Rhino for the Mac may only be fully understood by a software programmer.

One of the biggest problems is that not everything in Windows has a OSX counterpart. Yes, the Rhino core complies pretty well under OSX, but anything GUI/interface (like toolbars, menus, mouse actions, dialogs ...) all have to be rewritten for the Mac OS.

In addition, RhinoScript for the PC uses Microsoft's Active Scripting technology. Because Microsoft does not provide Active Scripting for the Mac, RhinoScript is not available on the Mac platform. For Plug-ins to work on the Mac, they will require that their 3rd party libraries have Mac binaries available. If the providers for these libraries do not compile their code for the Mac, the plug-in will not be available on the Mac.

Here is a little fun trivia. Rhino was first born an AutoCAD plugin called AccuModel back about 1994. Because we did not have control over the ever changing AutoCAD video interface, Rhino development was moved to a stand alone Windows product. For the first five versions of Rhino, all we had on staff were Windows programmers. Then Marlin volunteered to help us out and the Mac alpha came on line. Rhino/Mac history is now in the making.

Hope this helps.
Mary Fugier
Robert McNeel Technical Support