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Back in the NeXT days, these development tools suite (Xcode, Interface Builder and WebObjects, etc) cost $50,000. Now $5. Unreal.

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.
 
Give me a break.

It's free to registered Developers because they pay $99 to be registered.

You're complaining as a novice you have to pay $4.99?

How does one square that circle?

how long before Apple charges 99 cents for ping
99 cents for telnet
:D
 
I think the charge is for one thing only. To disincentivise the casually interested from clicking on a free download in the App Store of a 4GB file.

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.
 
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.


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 think beginners should just start with XCode 4.
it makes more sense than Xcode 3.

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 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... :confused:

This!

For crying out loud people, register for ADC and get it for free if you care that much.
 
So download it for free!
My productivity is determined by the IDE not the compiler.

C.

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.
 
pissed me off

I hope this doesn't start a nickel and dime routine... Apple at least could have released a statement why they started charging for something every mac stands for. :mad:
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

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.
 
Completely agree.

There are probably people out there who download virtually EVERY free application they see. This cuts down the downloads to just those people who really want XCode 4, and not just scanning the library for 'free things' (thus increasing Apple's costs for server bandwidth).

Yes, $5 is an odd move. Maybe it should have been priced at $99 with a free 1 year developer subscription.

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.
 
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.

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.
 
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.

Maybe I missed it, but who said this won't be on Lion DVDs for free?
 
Ok

I don't see how anyone can argue that this ISN'T one step closer to the App Store being the only allowed distribution point for new software.

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.
 
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