Testing on multiple platforms

[miscdas at boxfrog.com]

Shari writes:
>[snip] 
> 

> I have one OS.  Some people have my OS, others do not.

>  Unless you have 5 or 10 computers, you CANNOT test on all OS's. 
> 
> A Window's developer would need at least 4 to test on the various flavours of Windows.  Minimum. 
> 
> A Mac developer would need at least 3.  Minimum. 
> 
> A cross platform developer would need a minimum of 7 computers, if you own all the flavours that your program might run on. 
> 
> Shari C
======== 

Shari, 

You need to make a distinction between "computers" and "operating systems". 
You can have one computer that runs many flavors of Windows through 
different means. For example, Windows has dual-boot option, enabling  
installing of a variety of OSs on a single drive, and SELECTION of which OS 
to actually boot at startup. Another method is to have several hard drives 
in removable boxes, each drive a different OS. Then, simply swap drives as 
needed and boot up the required OS. 

Perhaps the Mac world has similar capabilities? 

So you see, a considerable amount of Mac/Windows cross-platform testing can 
be done on as little as only two computers--a Mac and a PC--not the "5 or 10 
computers" that you proclaim. 

miscdas