Apple Releases Xcode 4 to Developers, Coming Soon to Mac App Store for $4.99

[Torrijos]

What an humongous amount of BS from Apple.

I've been a member of Apple's developer connection for free since I'm a college student in computer science and xCode was one of the rare things you could download for free.
Now I should pay for an IDE update, that won't even allow testing iOS apps on devices (still need to be a REAL member for that).

I would really love to know why on earth the charge?!

 

[spazzcat]

I bet the $4.99 charge is to compensate Apple for the massive amount of bandwidth this download will take up for them, and to stop thousands of people who don't really know about computers from downloading an 8GB file and thinking herp derp I'm gonna make the next angry birds in 15 minutes this afternoon.

Not sure why, but this made me laught. Maybe because it's true

 

[dethmaShine]

Yeah! Closing a thousand windows a day was FUN!

C.

I think you should use it first and then comment as to how useful it is.

 

[smulji]

I don't get the hate for the $5 download. If you're interested, it's $5. Less than a combo meal from a fast food restaurant. If you're serious about it, you're going to become an ADC member anyways to get full access to all that it offers, which is only $99 a year.

And if you ARE an ADC Member, it's free. So...

So very true. The people on this forum should check out how much MS charges for a Professional license of Visual Studio 2010. And the free express versions of Visual Studio don't count since you're not allowed to use these versions for commercial purposes.

 

[Stella]

Xcode 4 is a pain to use over 3.2.5.

Why?

 

[cvaldes]

I've come to believe that most members on this forum are broke high school and college students, who think Apple should cater to them over people in the real world.

Yes, they will enjoy their toaster oven door iPads, papier-mache iPhones, and pizza-box MacBooks.

And Apple Inc. will have a market capitalization of $832.17.

At least Xcode would be free.

 

[Carniphage]

As far as I know the Visual Studio Express is free.
Perhaps $5 is a scam?

$5 is almost 1/5 of the cost of a book that explains how to use it. How can they justify such outrageous pricing!!

C.

 

[deputy_doofy]

Have you checked to see if you can download it? It maybe paid, if you have no account at all. Maybe a away to track who has it but no account???

I'll have to wait until I get home. I have no way of checking/trying from work.

 

[Eidorian]

I've come to believe that most members on this forum are broke high school and college students, who think Apple should cater to them over people in the real world.

Frugality need not apply.

 

[Carniphage]

I think you should use it first and then comment as to how useful it is.

I have been using it since the first GM build was released. I really like it.

C.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Yeah! Closing a thousand windows a day was FUN!

C.

Xcode 3 did have a single-window interface (it was the default). Ironically, I open more windows in Xcode 4 (by accident!) than I ever did in Xcode 3. Still retraining myself.

 

[zorinlynx]

Part of my annoyance with this is that Apple has always included Xcode for free with OS X and made it available as a free download.

Even if you're not a developer, you need Xcode (and the GCC it brings) to compile certain free/open source software. For example you need Xcode installed to use Macports.

So now we're being nickel and dimed for something that used to be free, when Apple already makes so much money from us selling the hardware.

It's pointless greed. Stop trying to justify it.

 

[uwbadger]

Come on! Visual Studio is $4.49 too.

Oh actually.
That's $449.

No, err. sorry. Actually that's
That's £449UKP or $713.98

Perhaps $5 is a bargain?

C.

Of course, the underlying compiler for XCode is gcc (+LLVM, at least on iOS), which is an open-source GPL compiler.

 

[jowie]

Hell, will it make it easier? I'm just curious because I want to upgrade now but wondered if I should wait until the end of this particular book first.

Personally I would wait, because there are areas of the XCode IDE in version 4 such as project and build settings and, of course, Interface Builder, that are pretty much completely different. You may come across examples in your book that will confuse you.

That's just my opinion of course, but I do appreciate the lure of shiny new apps

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

Talk to someone who actually doesn't know Apple's and NeXT's history perhaps might give you sympathetic support.

We used to sell NeXT Developer Tools for $4999.

You're complaining about $4.99 for a Developer IDE Suite that allows you to sell your apps on the App Store to hundreds of millions of perspective consumers and yet you're still complaining.

How much money will you lay down for booze, smokes, and other habits?

Why don't you then go back to charge 5000$?

5$ is not going to generate any substantial income for Apple, but it pisses of a lot of folks. It discourages people instead of encouraging a playfull attitude
to try things on your Mac. I don't see how Apple is benefitting the slightest from this move.

When I now want to teach a beginners class of 'Programming' to my students, should I tell them to go back to Windows, because they can download the free Visual Studio Express?

 

[Carniphage]

Of course, the underlying compiler for XCode is gcc (+LLVM, at least on iOS), which is an open-source GPL compiler.

So download it for free!
My productivity is determined by the IDE not the compiler.

C.

 

[Gauthic]

Come on! Visual Studio is $4.49 too.

Oh actually.
That's $449.

No, err. sorry. Actually that's
That's £449UKP or $713.98

Perhaps $5 is a bargain?

C.

Visual Studio is a heckalot more polished than XCode 4. There's still NO HINT of Web Services inclusion in XCode.... and you still have to do everything the hard way (although it's MUCH better than XCode 3 as far as work flow goes).

 

[balamw]

They're charging $5 for it to offset the bandwidth charges from 4 GB downloads every release a new iOS version and SDK.

(Xcode needs a better updating system, stat.)

B

 

[smulji]

As far as I know the Visual Studio Express is free.

Perhaps $5 is a scam?

Yes the Visual Studio Express version is free BUT you are not allowed to use this version for commercial purposes. You can easily check that out.

If you want to make money off of developing apps using Visual Studio you HAVE to purchase a non-Express version which start at around $700 if I'm not mistaken.

You can find that out easily on MS's Visual Studio section of their website.

So from that perspective $5 for a full, commercial-useable version of Xcode 4 is a steal even with the fact you have to pay $99 a year for the developer program.

 

[themoonisdown09]

Lame :/

But then MS charges an arm and a leg for VS

I agree. We use VS at work and it's about $1,299 per developer. Way more than the $5 for XCode 4.

 

[Carniphage]

Visual Studio is a heckalot more polished than XCode 4. There's still NO HINT of Web Services inclusion in XCode.... and you still have to do everything the hard way (although it's MUCH better than XCode 3 as far as work flow goes).

I have used both.
Even the most die-hard enthusiast would struggle to explain a 200-fold mark up.


C.

 

[dethmaShine]

I have been using it since the first GM build was released. I really like it.

C.

That's good for you then.

Every single member from devforums was very disappointed with the release.

I have downloaded it again but will revert to 3.2.5 if this hasn't improved.

 

[PatrickCocoa]

Stick with version 3

For those that have used Xcode 4 or those experienced in such:

I'm currently at square one in learning iOS programming for the iPad. I'm going through a book right now that's just getting me to the point of writing my first simple little app. Will updating to version 4 hamper my learning much, given that a lot of on-screen examples are included in the book from version 3?

Hell, will it make it easier? I'm just curious because I want to upgrade now but wondered if I should wait until the end of this particular book first.

Thanks for your help,
Ian

You want to stay with version 3. The examples in most books are very specific about what to drag where when connecting your interface. Xcode 4 makes major changes in how what used to be Interface Builder is shown. Most of the process is the same in Xcode 4 compared to Xcode 3, but as a beginner you will be lost in Xcode 4.

 

[logandzwon]

Have you checked to see if you can download it? It maybe paid, if you have no account at all. Maybe a away to track who has it but no account???

I just tried with my non-paid account. It offered to tell me about why I should sign up for a paid account.

I don't know how to feel about the $5 though.

some thoughts;
-If Xcode4 is included with Lion I'm fine with it.
-As others have said, Xcode is a pretty powerful IDE, and competitors are charging much more then $5 for theirs.
-Xcode includes gcc, make, and other opensource free software.
-If Apple wanted to make a free package, Xcode core or something, that includes all the OSS stuff like, make and gcc, and then only sell the IDE with the developer kits I would be ok with, but I'd think it was a bad idea. Beginners need free compilers.

 

[smulji]

Visual Studio is a heckalot more polished than XCode 4. There's still NO HINT of Web Services inclusion in XCode.... and you still have to do everything the hard way (although it's MUCH better than XCode 3 as far as work flow goes).

I'll agree with you that Visual Studio is more polished than Xcode 4. But it doesn't change the fact that it's helluva lot more expensive. The question is, is it really worth approximately $695 better?