Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store • Hacker News Board

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#91

Post by kbutler » Wed, Jul 20, 2011, 11:49 PM UTC

ugh wrote: post #63

hubb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

xcode is a tool, and has near the same potential to make you a millionaire that a pencil does. if you paid $5 for a pencil, to be told a few days later that the same pencil was being offered freely, would wish you had waited for the free pencil?

That makes no sense. You are unhappy that other people can get something for free now? That's self-centered. You were willing to pay the price, why does the ability of other people to now get the same thing for free change your original assessment? It doesn't seem to change anything for me.

Remove the time component:

Would you choose to buy an item for $X or for $0?

It isn't that you perceive the item as being worth less, it's just that you could have the item AND the $X.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#92

Post by chc » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 12:00 AM UTC

DrJokepu wrote: post #78

pygy_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible to create a UB for all three architerctures at the same time? (PPC, x86 and x64)

It is possible, however, no PPC binary is allowed in the Mac App Store, even if your binaries also include support for other platforms. This could be a problem if you use third-party binary-only libraries as you have to strip the PPC stream manually from them before you can submit your app to the Mac App Store.

That's not too big a problem. The developer tools include a tool called lipo that can easily remove unwanted architectures from fat binaries.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#93

Post by chc » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 12:03 AM UTC

xorglorb wrote: post #75

pygy_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible to create a UB for all three architerctures at the same time? (PPC, x86 and x64)

Apple's definition of a "Universal Binary" is an executable the runs on both PPC and x86. However, it is possible to create a fat binary that runs on all three architectures at the same time. An example of how to do it: http://ngmarley.com/blog/osx-universal-binary/

Apple uses the term "universal" in somewhat inconsistent ways. In the Get Info window, it means what you say. But in developer documentation, it tends to mean a fat binary, with PPC/x86 being the most common pair.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#94

Post by ugh » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 12:09 AM UTC

kbutler wrote: post #91

ugh wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes no sense. You are unhappy that other people can get something for free now? That's self-centered. You were willing to pay the price, why does the ability of other people to now get the same thing for free change your original assessment? It doesn't seem to change anything for me.

Remove the time component: Would you choose to buy an item for $X or for $0? It isn't that you perceive the item as being worth less, it's just that you could have the item AND the $X.

But that makes no sense! The time component is kinda important, you can’t just remove it.

I’m not crying over the purchase of my 64MB, 350MHz and 4GB PC in 1998 because if I were to remove the time component the price I paid for it was way, way, way too high. That’s absurd, you don’t do that.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#95

Post by julesallen » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 12:52 AM UTC

scottschulthess wrote: post #81

fullmoon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just removed GCC 4.0. GCC 4.2.1 is avaiable as /usr/bin/gcc-4.2, and /usr/bin/gcc is actually LLVM-GCC 4.2

I just installed xcode and I no longer have any versions of gcc in /usr/bin edit: you actually have to run the xcode installer

You just saved me another few hours of figuring out wtf was going on. Thank you.

Apple, seriously? Is this what pro's can expect from the App Store? It's half assed at best.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#96

Post by jad » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 2:10 AM UTC

chc wrote: post #83

chc wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good question, but unfortunately I'm not privy to Apple's internal workings to give you an accurate answer. The general metric seems to be "Does it add value to the core product?" This is the same reason iOS updates are free to the iPhone but not to the iPod Touch — the iPhone is viewed as a multi-year investment (and reflected as such in Apple's accounting), while the iPod Touch is a shrinkwrap product that…

Thinking about it further, I'd bet the distinction is that iTunes is on Windows too, so it's viewed as an independent product, while things like Xcode and FaceTime are tied to Mac OS.

This also fits with the fact that they don't charge for new major versions of Safari, which also has a Windows version.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#97

Post by andrewf » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 2:21 AM UTC

chc wrote: post #22

beagle3 wrote: post #10

Question to mac developers: Does Apple let you in any way develop/debug/test programs for older operating systems? If I bought a newly-released-today MacBookAir with Lion, but I want to develop software that would still run on 10.6 and 10.5 - what's the official (and unofficial) ways to do that?

Xcode can always target one or two versions back. As for testing, you have two options: 1. Buy old hardware as a dedicated testing server and run the older operating systems on different partitions 2. Run the older versions in VMWare (10.6 can do this, but I'm not positive about 10.5) If you don't have 10.6, it's still available for free through the Mac Developer Program.

Probably worth noting that you can seamlessly boot Mac OS X from external USB storage. Just plug the drive in before booting and hold down the "option" key when you power on.

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#98

Post by astrange » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 3:14 AM UTC

angerman wrote: post #73

angerman wrote: post #25

I'm very sceptical of this Mac App Store. As much as I like the idea (apt anyone? :-D) I am very disappointed by it's performance. Neither on SL nor on Lion does it let me update bought apps. Doing the "drag app to trash, click `install', empty trash" mumbo is not really my idea of "working". If anyone has similar issues, or a fix, that would truly be great!

Why the downvotes? And no, clicking "update" did /not/ work! Found the solution: This happens if you have "Macintosh HD" listed under the privacy tab of Spotlight's System Preferences.

http://bugreport.apple.com/

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#99

Post by code_duck » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 5:01 AM UTC

cdcarter wrote: post #3

Glad to see it's back to free. Now I wish I didn't waste that $5...

I don't understand why they made it $5 for a few months, and now it's back to free again. Why did they start charging in the first place? And a fairly trivial amount, at that?

Re: Xcode 4.1 now available free from the Mac App Store

#100

Post by angerman » Thu, Jul 21, 2011, 6:42 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #98

angerman wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the downvotes? And no, clicking "update" did /not/ work! Found the solution: This happens if you have "Macintosh HD" listed under the privacy tab of Spotlight's System Preferences.

http://bugreport.apple.com/

Thank you. Good idea; reported.