Xcode now costs US$ 4.99 • Hacker News Board

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#161

Post by jarin » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:10 PM UTC

tomkarlo wrote: post #133

I love how half the comments here run along the lines of "Apple is evil because they're charging $5 for this piece of software" and the other half are "Apple is evil because they're giving this away for $5 to suck people into the iOS/OSX ecosystem." Gotta pick, guys. How about: $5 is essentially free for something that is a major piece of software. It's a venti latte at SBUX. It's not going to represent a real obstac…

I think this whole complaining about $5 thing really reeks of a sense of entitlement. Either use Xcode 3 (which is free and works perfectly well), or find some way to save up 5 bucks (or 10 bucks if you need to go get a Visa gift card).

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#162

Post by schellack » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:10 PM UTC

joshfraser wrote: post #58

Seeing this reminded me of a Microsoft focus group I was invited to be a part of a few years ago. As a CTO who had decided to build everyone on top of free software, they wanted to know what it take to make me to switch to a Microsoft stack. I told them they were 10 years too late. You see, I made the decision to use LAMP stack not because it was cheaper, but because it's what I knew. And the reason I knew LAMP stack…

If you look at Facetime on the Mac App Store, it costs $0.99. If you get a new Mac, though, it's free (included). Xcode has historically been included on the install media for OS X (e.g., with Snow Leopard). It's still a separate install, of course. I expect Xcode 4 will still be available on the OS X Lion install media. Buy OS X 10.7 and the media will most likely include Xcode 4. This is a normal Apple pattern.

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#163

Post by draebek » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #147

I'm surprised this made it to the number 1 spot on the front page. From the Hacker News Guidelines: You can make up a new title if you want, but if you put gratuitous editorial spin on it, the editors may rewrite it. Xcode 4 is available as a free download for Mac and iOS developers with a paid membership [1], just like the versions before it. Those who aren't paying members of ADC can get Xcode 4 via the Mac App Sto…

I logged in with my free! account and it told me I had to join either the iOS ($99/year) or Mac ($99/year) developer program to get Xcode for free. Otherwise I should head to the Mac App Store. Am I missing something?

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#164

Post by reemrevnivek » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #147

I'm surprised this made it to the number 1 spot on the front page. From the Hacker News Guidelines: You can make up a new title if you want, but if you put gratuitous editorial spin on it, the editors may rewrite it. Xcode 4 is available as a free download for Mac and iOS developers with a paid membership [1], just like the versions before it. Those who aren't paying members of ADC can get Xcode 4 via the Mac App Sto…

Wait...so it's only $5 in the app store? Are they just trying to cover the costs of 4+GB of bandwidth?

I don't know what's worse: Making Xcode cost $5, or offering an app for $5 in the app store and free for download.

However, I know that the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is come back here and click that link before they revoke that link.

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#165

Post by alanstorm » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

ori_b wrote: post #15

This is somewhat strange pricing - it seems ridiculously cheap if they're trying to make significant profits off of it, but pricey enough to prevent tinkerers who don't really know about coding but feel like trying it from getting a start in xcode.

It's probably a part of a longer term pricing strategy. It's hard to start charging "real" money (even $40/$50) for an application you were formerly giving away for free. People feel like you've taken something away. By charging a micro-payment disposable price of $5 (Happy Meal, Latte, etc.) they deflect a lot of that criticism and avoid some of the negative publicity. Over the next 10 years they can slowly raise the price, each time keeping is reasonable.

Apple's leveraging the work they put into building the App Store infrastructure (and business deals with credit card companies) to do something a lot of other companies couldn't (make something that was free cost something again without too much fallout).

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#166

Post by Jgrubb » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

glesperance wrote: post #46

With this and the huge margins apple are already taking over the developers' revenue I really feel like we as developers are getting less and less respect from Apple. I really think that what made OSX great was the fact that Xcode was completely free. We are the ones that make a platform a great one because of the app ecosystem that comes with it. Putting prices -- however small they are -- on these dev tools put a b…

What got me into programming in the first place was that XCode was free. I just don't get why you'd charge this small an amount for something that you have to buy a thousand dollar computer from them to run it on. It's hard to see this as anything but a tiny little insult.

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#167

Post by rbarooah » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:12 PM UTC

goalieca wrote: post #63

jarin wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand how the cost of a Happy Meal might deter someone who wants to try their hand at coding. I mean seriously, you're going to spend at least 10 times that amount on programming books, or thousands of times that amount on college classes.

The entire thing is built on open source. I certainly won't be paying and this shift in culture at apple is turning me off. I probably won't be buying another product from them for a while.

Open source that Apple had contributed very heavily to. Do you feel the same way about Canonical etc.?

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#168

Post by noarchy » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:12 PM UTC

ptomato wrote: post #124

noarchy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xcode has normally shipped with OS X install DVDs (though a lot of folks download it anyway, as this gets you the latest version). I'm wondering if they'll ship it with Lion. I'm guessing that they will not.

I bet they will, just like they're shipping Facetime with Lion.

It would offer a bit of an incentive for anyone thinking of upgrading to Lion. Why not throw in the IDE? I'm just not sure that they will.

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#169

Post by loire280 » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:13 PM UTC

msg wrote: post #34

ori_b wrote: post #15

This is somewhat strange pricing - it seems ridiculously cheap if they're trying to make significant profits off of it, but pricey enough to prevent tinkerers who don't really know about coding but feel like trying it from getting a start in xcode.

It is the difference between free and not free. They are trying to drive developers to use the App Store? Sounds ridiculous coming out of my mouth. They are trying to kill off OSX hobbyist experimentation in favor of iOS? I think I'm getting warmer.

It's probably an incentive to get people to become paid developer members. You already need to be enrolled to submit apps to the Mac and iOS app stores.

If you just need a compiler, install the development tools on the OS X install DVD that came with your computer. If you want to be doing software development for Mac or iOS, the developer fee is worth it for the documentation and prerelease software.

Re: Xcode now costs US$ 4.99

#170

Post by jarin » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 10:13 PM UTC

igrekel wrote: post #64

joshfraser wrote: post #58

Seeing this reminded me of a Microsoft focus group I was invited to be a part of a few years ago. As a CTO who had decided to build everyone on top of free software, they wanted to know what it take to make me to switch to a Microsoft stack. I told them they were 10 years too late. You see, I made the decision to use LAMP stack not because it was cheaper, but because it's what I knew. And the reason I knew LAMP stack…

Right... and 5$ is hard to pay when your a teenager, just because you don't have a credit card yourself.

Especially when a sense of entitlement is free!

You can get Visa gift cards at the convenience store for $10. If a teenager can't find the motivation to scrounge up 10 bucks, they're going to have a hell of a time learning how to program.