Don't know what Jobs was thinking.
Software makes or breaks a platform. If you own an OS like Nextstep, you're crying out for software. You don't charge $50,000 to develop on your platform.
And people wonder why NeXT failed.
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Apple Releases Xcode 4 to Developers, Coming Soon to Mac App Store for $4.99
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Don't know what Jobs was thinking.
Software makes or breaks a platform. If you own an OS like Nextstep, you're crying out for software. You don't charge $50,000 to develop on your platform.
And people wonder why NeXT failed.
Conner36
macrumors member
Carniphage
macrumors 68000
NeXT didn't fail. They took over Apple and were paid to do so.
Pixar didn't fail either. They took over Disney and were paid to do so.
C.
This is basically what I thought when I read this story. Any serious Mac developer would get this free as they are part of the paid ADC.
I am not knocking those who don't pay and are "serious developers", but I do hope you are seeing the big opportunity you are missing with the lack-of App Store access.
Xcode was free
If you signed up for a free developer account you could download the tools for free. This will hurt them more, now that you can't get the tools for free. But probably anyone posting anything to the apps stores are paying members to be able to post apps, but still.
This is what leads to piracy! It will be posted on torrents and stuff now.
If you signed up for a free developer account you could download the tools for free. This will hurt them more, now that you can't get the tools for free. But probably anyone posting anything to the apps stores are paying members to be able to post apps, but still.
This is what leads to piracy! It will be posted on torrents and stuff now.
johnnymg
macrumors 65816
Winni
macrumors 68040
The Windows SDK is FREE.
The Visual Studio Express Editions are FREE.
Microsoft Robotics Studio is FREE.
XNA/Windows Mobile development tools are FREE.
Yes, the larger Visual Studio editions cost money -- but they come with tools and controls that you just WISH to have with XCode.
On the other hand, a lot of the essential parts of Apple's Xcode are OPEN SOURCE tools that they did not even develop themselves. They put an IDE on top of it, but things like make or gcc certainly were not invented in Cupertino but simply belong to any Unix system.
Anyway.
I just paid the 3.99 Euros for XCode 4 and wait for the 4.4 GB download to finish. I find it a bit sad that they are now charging for something that used to be free when you joined the (free) developer program and that used to be a part of the operating system DVDs, but on the other hand, it perfectly fits in the picture.
Let's face it: All Apple software is using some sort of a subscription model, and when you want to stay up to date, you need to (symbolically speaking) insert your credit card into the computer and authorize the next micro transaction for the software update. It's a dollar here, five dollars there and never much - but it sums up eventually. And you guys have been complaining about the cost of anti-virus software for Windows (which Microsoft now fixed by giving away an anti-virus software package for free via Windows Update). The initial and then the hidden and steady costs of a Mac are MUCH higher than that of a Windows PC - that's a fact and you only need to check your credit card statement for everything that has the word "iTunes" in it to verify it. You're constantly paying for something when you own a Mac - and that now includes Xcode. Life IS cheaper when you decide to use a PC with Windows or Linux.
I agree, but
I agree, but only once Xcode 4 specific help is available. This may be a month or two to get some internet tutorials, or six or more to get a physical book.
I agree, but only once Xcode 4 specific help is available. This may be a month or two to get some internet tutorials, or six or more to get a physical book.
This!
For crying out loud people, register for ADC and get it for free if you care that much.
AFAIK, Apple does not offer a compiler-only download. And since it uses heavily modified GCC, its not so easy to install the "original" GCC. At least they should provide a free GCC+Clang download without the IDE.
I really don't get this move. Lots of my colleagues in the university are non-programmers but rely on Apple developer tools to install certain open-source software. I myself use Xcode to develop small tools for our projects, I do not distribute commercial applications nor do I indent to do so. While 5$ is not much, its pretty annoying still.
My 16 year old little brother who doesn't have a job and could barely even be considered a newbie programmer set aside his lunch money today to buy XCode when he gets home.
Anybody whining about the price needs a reality check.
Anybody whining about the price needs a reality check.
The question is though, would Apple give XCode 4 for free with Lion? If they do, anyone who wants to stick to 10.6 and free IDE, they can keep going with XCode 3, as it is still free. And anyone who purchases Lion would get it for free. Maybe this is like Facetime, it'll come free with Lion, but if you want it without Lion, it costs.
bbeagle
macrumors 68040
It's a different business environment. Nintendo Wii's development kit cost $1700. Similar for XBox and Playstation.
Did the Wii or XBox or Playstation fail because of their high fees? No - they were just planning on the 'big boys' (EA/Sony/etc.) to develop games.
99 cent App development is a different beast, however.
Detektiv-Pinky
macrumors 6502a
They should start charging for using an application.
99 cents to click on a link in Safari...
Carniphage
macrumors 68000
Remember also that App store software is automatically updated. I'd expect XCode to have 5-10 updates per year.
That 4.99 doesn't cover just one 4GB download. It could result in 40-100GBs of download from someone who didn't even know what they were clicking on.
C.
Uh no offense but Visual Studio cannot be compared to Xcode. Xcode isn't even half what visual studio is. Developing in visual studio is so much easier to use to develop software than xcode. So charging that amount for visual studio is actually justified. Xcode for $4.99 is probably worth it.
Ok
OK, I'll argue that charging $5 for Xcode 4 is NOT a step to the Mac App Store being the only allowed distribution point for new software. There's no relationship between changing the cost of developer tools and authorized methods of software distribution.
OK, I'll argue that charging $5 for Xcode 4 is NOT a step to the Mac App Store being the only allowed distribution point for new software. There's no relationship between changing the cost of developer tools and authorized methods of software distribution.