Building Alpha Anywhere Apps on a Mac

Dave McCormick

Just because the Alpha Anywhere Developer and App server are Windows programs,
it doesn't mean they won't run on a Mac. In fact, many Alpha developers prefer
working on Mac, either by logging in using a remote desktop client, or by running
Windows on their Mac using Bootcamp, VMware, or Parallels.

A quick, informal survey here at Alpha showed that among Mac users, Parallels
was the most popular choice, and it's the option I've been using for the last
few years.

Recently, I was working with a new Alpha developer who was setting up his MacBook
Pro to use Alpha. The process took about an hour, but that included purchasing
and downloading Parallels and Windows - and waiting for the Windows setup program
to complete. The nice thing was that all of the setup could happen in the background,
and the Mac was still usable during the process.

If you are interested in doing this, we made a 3-minute video summarizing the
process. In the video we show you what it looks like to run Parallels on a Mac,
where to find and buy Parallels and Windows, which versions of Windows are suitable
(spoiler: any 64-bit version), and the steps to follow to get them set up so that
you can run Alpha Anywhere - and any other Windows program - on you Mac.

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About Author

Dave McCormick

Dave has a long history with Alpha and has a deep understanding of developers and the information they need to make informed decisions. He has developed numerous videos, print tutorials and other materials that make the developer's job easier. Dave joined the company in 1992, and served as support engineer, technical writer, and documentation department manager. Between 1998 and 2005, Dave was at Stumpworld Systems and was product manager for Online Merchant/Online Merchant Gold, which became the best-selling e-commerce application in the U.S. retail market. Prior to rejoining Alpha in In 2006, Dave started A5-Online, a hosting provider for Alpha Five Web applications. Dave received an Award of Achievement from the Society for Technical Communication for the Alpha Five User's Guide in 1995. He holds a bachelor's degree in management information systems from the University of Arizona.

The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.