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$5 for Xcode 4.... lul whut?

slugg

slugg

Diamond Member
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/09/apple-releases-xcode-4-to-developers-coming-soon-to-mac-app-store-for-4-99/

Charging for Xcode now... really? Yes, I understand it's "only 5 dollars" but it's a matter of principal. I've been using Xcode 4 for a couple months now and I can confidently say that Eclipse (100% free) and Microsoft's Visual Studio Express editions (also 100% free) are lightyears ahead. Most developers agree that the ONLY reason to use Xcode is because you're forced to for Mac/iOS development.

To a business, this makes no difference for two reasons: either they just pay $5 per seat, which is nothing, or they're already part of the iOS or Mac developer program.

The students are the ones getting screwed here. No end-user would ever give a crap about Xcode, but hobbyists and students definitely do. First, Apple gimped the educational discount on Macs to the point where the sales tax practically kills it. Now they want to nickel and dime students for learning their platform.

Even Microsoft, the "evil" company, offers free licenses of their professional development suites to students. Autodesk does too. These are multi-thousand dollar programs that students can get for free for the sake of learning. Apple? Oh they charge you $5 for a subpar product. Think different.
 
I don't understand this level of thinking. Is $5 so much money that student's can't afford it? I mean, realistically.. if you're going to be trying to actively develop for iOS/MAS, then you'll be paying the $99. Otherwise, you have to pay $5. I just don't see this as a big deal. Yes, they could charge $.99, but it's like 4.5GB, so I'm sure the $5 is to cover bandwidth, plus a little profit.
 
If you know there are better alternatives, then I reckon just using the alternative and disregarding XCode altogether isn't that bad an idea?

It's not like you are required to use XCode to code for Mac or iOS anymore.
 
yeah i thought it was stupid...

Can someone answer my stupid question of the day:
Is XCode the equivalent to MS Visual Studios?
 
alfa147x said:
yeah i thought it was stupid...

Can someone answer my stupid question of the day:
Is XCode the equivalent to MS Visual Studios?
Click to expand...

Yes and no. It's Apple's IDE... but it's by no means equivalent in breadth and depth. Visual Studio is just plain amazing. But then again, it's only useful for Microsoft platforms (Windows, Windows Phone, ASP.NET, XNA/Xbox).

Xcode isn't bad. I just don't see why it costs even a penny when 1) it used to be free, and 2) it's nowhere near as good as other free, commercial products.
 
I agree with runawayprisoner. If XCode is so bad, it shouldn't matter to the OP if it's free, $5 or $500+.
 
What version is shipping with new Macs on the restore media? I don't have my restore drive with me to check, but I know that it used to be on there.

If it is XCode 4, then it is sort of like the FaceTime thing. The new SNB Macs get it for free, but others have to pay for it. Still lame, but if you are going from XCode 3 to 4, then $5 seems like a small price to pay.

Is Eclipse a native program yet on OS X?
 
TheStu said:
What version is shipping with new Macs on the restore media? I don't have my restore drive with me to check, but I know that it used to be on there.

If it is XCode 4, then it is sort of like the FaceTime thing. The new SNB Macs get it for free, but others have to pay for it. Still lame, but if you are going from XCode 3 to 4, then $5 seems like a small price to pay.

Is Eclipse a native program yet on OS X?
Click to expand...

Good point... I forgot all about that.

And Eclipse is still largely Java, but the GUI is now Cocoa based. So yea, the application itself is native, but a lot of the controls and buttons and stuff inside of the IDE have that "eclipse" look to them.
 
slugg said:
Good point... I forgot all about that.

And Eclipse is still largely Java, but the GUI is now Cocoa based. So yea, the application itself is native, but a lot of the controls and buttons and stuff inside of the IDE have that "eclipse" look to them.
Click to expand...

Yea, I haven't had a call to use eclipse in like 4 years or so, and back then, ugh it was a pain with its non-nativeness. I used XCode and emacs just because of how much smoother the UI was. The Prof insisted on Eclipse though, so I had to eventually load everything into it.
 
TheStu said:
Yea, I haven't had a call to use eclipse in like 4 years or so, and back then, ugh it was a pain with its non-nativeness. I used XCode and emacs just because of how much smoother the UI was. The Prof insisted on Eclipse though, so I had to eventually load everything into it.
Click to expand...

I actually like Eclipse, but I've never used it on a Mac. But I won't push this into a debate that may need to be pushed to the Programming sub-forum 😉.
 
Aikouka said:
I actually like Eclipse, but I've never used it on a Mac. But I won't push this into a debate that may need to be pushed to the Programming sub-forum 😉.
Click to expand...

I don't hate it, but this was 5 years ago, on a Core Duo with 512MB of RAM. I was doing ridiculous things to that system with regards to CPU Utilization, so I usually just used emacs, but if I needed actual project management, I turned to XCode, it just used fewer resources.

So again, 5 years ago, with a much more constrained system, nowadays if I were to go it all over again, I probably wouldn't care on that front. Still would be bugged by the UI though.
 
As a free registered Apple developer you can still download the Xcode3/ios SDK 4.3 combo for free so if you're looking at
iPhone/iPad development that avenue is still open.
 
Cougit said:
As a free registered Apple developer you can still download the Xcode3/ios SDK 4.3 combo for free so if you're looking at
iPhone/iPad development that avenue is still open.
Click to expand...

So you get it for free if you sign up for the free developer account, but not free otherwise? At this point, I'm not even complaining. Now I'm just confused.

The only "sense" I can make from this is that Apple thinks App Store users are trigger happy. In other words, Apple doesn't want to clog up their bandwidth with Johnny Appleseed saying "ooh! I wonder what this shiny 4.3 gig FREE app does!"
 
slugg said:
So you get it for free if you sign up for the free developer account, but not free otherwise? At this point, I'm not even complaining. Now I'm just confused.

The only "sense" I can make from this is that Apple thinks App Store users are trigger happy. In other words, Apple doesn't want to clog up their bandwidth with Johnny Appleseed saying "ooh! I wonder what this shiny 4.3 gig FREE app does!"
Click to expand...

I won't even pretend to understand the accounting of it, because I'm not sure why you'd ever be discouraged from giving out software for free.

But from what I've read, XCode 3 is included on any new Mac you buy, therefore, it's being accounted for based upon new installs. XCode 4, however, isn't. It's a new piece of software, therefore, if you're a paid developer, they lump it into that fee. If you aren't paying, then they have no way of accounting for it and therefore have to charge.

I'm betting that it will be included on Lion, and all new Macs that ship, for free.
 
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