From WinForms to Xamarin / MAUI for Windows, Mac, Linux - how realistic? how much effort? how soon?

Question

We have an application that uses WinForms, and we are looking at possibly moving to Xamarin with an eye to MAUI. The goal would be to support Windows, MacOS, and Linux from the same codebase. Realistically, how much effort is involved in moving from WinForms to Xamarin? I know that's a "how long is a piece of string" question, but can you help us think out the best way to estimate the effort for our own application, given our knowledge of the application? Or say something about the effort required for other applications, with an idea of the complexity of those applications? Also, how well will these applications run on MacOS and Linux? On different flavors of Linux? How difficult is it to support cross-platform applications written this way? Are there people out there who support applications built on Xamarin that run on all three platforms? What has your experience been?

Are there other options we should consider?

Answer 1

Hello,​

Welcome to our Microsoft Q&A platform!

how well will these applications run on MacOS and Linux?

Firstly, you add the Xamarin.Forms in this thread. Do you mean that Xamarin.Forms support Windows, Mac, Linux? Xamarin.Forms support Android, iOS, UWP three platforms, Xamarin.Forms do not support Linux, and if you want to develop Mac application, you can use Xamarin.Mac to achieve it.

You mentioned that you have a WinForms application. If you want to use Xamarin.Forms to develop an application that support Android, iOS, UWP. Here is a guide that help WPF and Windows Forms developers to learn mobile app development with Xamarin.

Are there people out there who support applications built on Xamarin that run on all three platforms?

If you use Xamarin.Forms, we support Android, iOS and UWP three platforms.

Best Regards,

Leon Lu

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Answer 2

To add some information to LeonLu's answer: as he noted, Xamarin Forms supports Android, iOS, and UWP for Windows. Maui supports Android, iOS, Mac (via Mac/Catalyst), and WINUI for Windows. There are discussions going on in the Open Source community about potential future Linux support, but that won't likely happen until at least .NET 7, if then. If you really want Linux support, make your voice heard by being active in the various community forums.

WinForms is being actively developed (some would say resurrected) with .NET 6. This largely occurred because there are a LOT of Windows Forms applications and developers out there and that community was able to convince Microsoft of the advisability of investing in modernizing the platform. It is unlikely to ever be cross-platform but who knows, many people thought it was dead and they were wrong.