That’s not true either. Again there is an existence proof - Xamarin.

You can develop on Windows.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/get-started/ins...

And use Microsoft’s hosted build environment for up to 40 hours a month for free.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/pipelines/agents/hoste...

The whole kerfuffle you are referring to is about 7 years out of date.

so either: >Only on the Mac can I develop for every mainstream desktop and mobile OS. is not true. or it's bullshit policy. pick your poison.

How is it “Apple’s policy”? Apple chooses not to write a tool chain for Windows or Linux. If a third party once to make one, they are free to do so.

The post I was responding to said “it was against Apple’s TOS”, probably referring to a policy that was rescinded back in 2011.

There is a big difference between Apple not allowing something and Apple not supporting something. I choose to write native apps for the platforms I care about. If I wanted to use Xamarin I could.

To make a build of a xaramin app for publishing to the iOS store dont you need a Mac at least for one stage? It looks like you do under the "Archive for Publishing" section here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/deploy-test/app...

It's also against ToS to virtualize OSX on non-Mac hardware as far as I know.

I don't think they are just doing that for fun.