Microsoft would never say it, of course, but truly the best “alternative solution” is Jetbrains Rider. It’s head and shoulders above VS for Mac in every way. I learn more C# features through its recommendations than even reading Microsoft’s development docs.
So: that was too difficult, I guess the original decision was right.
This HN post on the retirement announcement is how I learned VS for Mac exists.
This is sad but unsurprising. Microsoft did so well purchasing Xamarin and then systematically ripped it apart and didn’t bother to put any effort behind VS Mac. Then it did early this year and then just gave up.
They basically killed almost everything from Xamarin.
The only surviving part is the AOT toolchain that powers Blazor AOT and iOS/Android.