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I wish MS would have bought them 2 years ago when I was evaluating how to migrate my games from hybrid to native platform. Back then it was $1,500/year per supported platform (I think). I decided to brush up my C++ skills and chose cocos2dx. While somewhat tricky to configure dev env for Android, it did address all my issues - performance, cost, multi-platform.
For the business apps, when you have to support web-app as well as mobile app, Xamarin doesn't have a solution for web and it means build app twice. Using something like Cordova/PhoneGap is perfectly acceptable for non animation heavy apps and allows significant code re-use.
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Just saying! 
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They provide good enough services and features in Community edition, such as those Xamarin.Forms for GUI. I don't want customer support at all, but at least they should give me the features of the framework and, a good documentation.
I will dig my way to the bottom. 
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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So, it changed to a Yes then today with MS open sourcing Xamarin? For me it did
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Yes, yes, yes[^]!
That is seriously a great news and yes, the vote goes for yes, I will be using it.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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At the moment I don't see the need.
Maybe in a future < BIG > < BIG > IF < /BIG > < /BIG > I see the usability and the need... then yes.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: < BIG > < BIG >
Yep, sadly, the future really is HTML, Javascript, and all its related cruft.
Marc
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"I want to test it first before I can say whether or not I will be using it in the future!" 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Or you could go with the experience of thousands of devs (me included) who are delighted with the new found ability to crank out useful Android apps in short order (by reusing existing C# code from my desktop Windows apps).
/ravi
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Only dead fish follow the stream...
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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...that you develop an app for 2 platforms using a 3rd language. Let's face it, Windows Phone/Mobile isn't really going anywhere, so you're most likely creating Android and iOS apps. It would make much more sense to be able to develop for one of those platforms and port that to the other one. There certainly are cases where C# code makes sense, like shared code between .NET back-end (e.g. validation logic), but generally it just seems like unnecessarily added complexity. Had Windows Phone taken off back then, it would be a much different story, but as is I just don't see the point. Granted, it does lower the barrier of entry for .NET devs and the biggest issue (pricing) at least has been solved now.
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It's a good point, but does that exist?
I didn't search for, but I have no knowledge of an Android native platform that can be converted to iOS or vice-versa.
Sure there's PhoneGap and Ionic and all those but either they're not native or they also rely on a third agnostic language/platform.
I'm not a Xamarin dev, but I think it still is one of a kind in the market.
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I had to WinCE when I read your reply
My biggest complaint was that .Net on mobile was not .Net that I was used to.
Many of the libraries were quite limited (for obvious reasons), and caused rewriting
of logic around missing features.
And I agree that it would be nice to have one development tool. I think until .Net runs everywhere, it should have been Java (designed for this purpose), but Apple hates on Java (not without some good reasons). So there you have the problem.
You are literally developing for different hardware specs that do things differently.
C would have been the answer in days of old. It sure would be nice to have one set of tools that worked, but that won't happen until things stabilize. Or .Net really becomes cross-platform enough to cover it. Something will have to give.
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I'm not a mobile developer right now and I won't be if I play my cards right, but never say never. If that will be the best tool for the requirements I'll have then...
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
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Now Xamarin is Open Source and freely available.Definitely i will try to build some sample apps using Xamarin
-Ravi
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I've read about it and it looks to be a pain getting IOS to work, though I am a little excited to develop a small app. I should be getting a new computer soon, so I'll give it a try then. Android and IOS apps aren't inline with my organizations needs at this time, but we might find some synergies with it.
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Great idea but honestly I don't see the benefit but that could be because I don't use and when I did I used the MSFT tools.
For my iOS development I can't seem to stomach the idea of paying for the Xamarin tools as well as my apple developer account just so I can develop in C#. I would rather save the money for something more importation (more raspberry pi or arduino boards).
The hurdle of learning new languages is not that difficult (IMO) is it??
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Dennis E White wrote: I can't seem to stomach the idea of paying for the Xamarin tools
That's the whole point: you may not have to pay any more. It's built in to VS2015 and the Community Edition is free for many, many companies.
And instead of a locked-in codebase, you get a bottom-end codebase that is platform independant. The PL may need to be re-worked, but the BL / DL should be the same.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: And instead of a locked-in codebase, you get a bottom-end codebase that is platform independant.
I get platform independence with languages like Swift and Java as well. For me I guess I am just tired of MSFT and decided a few years back to stop using their tools.
I used Mono and did C# 6+ years ago with Ubuntu running on a BeagleBone and was excited about the potential. The message back then from MSFT was one against the Open Source movement and I just got tired of them.
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They've changed their minds since then - even the Xamarin SDK source is now open source: The Insider News - CodeProject[^]
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Thanks for the heads up. Looks interesting.
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... It's finding the time!
Learning, learning, learning ... Why can't we just insert a USB flash to our brain?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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