[bcompton@mac.com]

I was just wondering with the development tools the way they are in OS X will it be much easier to have cross platform applications?

[eyadams]

Shortest answer: probably not, but maybe yes.

Slightoly more detailed answer follows. If a program is initially written for Windows, without thought for porting to other OSes, then porting to OS X is probably no easier than porting to any other Unix or Unix-like operating system. Which is to say it's probably really, really hard. Windows-only applications tend to take advantage of Windows-only technologies like COM. While there are similar technologies available for OS X, they differences are significant.

On the other hand, if a program is design to be cross platform from the beginning, then maintaining an OS X branch is probably a little easier than maintaining an OS 9 branch, thanks to the improved memorry management and availability of standard build tools like make.