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If they really want to stimulate development, make it free and don't require a Mac to do the development. Less barriers == more developers.

by iuguy 17y ago

teilo 17y ago
XCode has been free for a very long time. It is not crippled. There is no "XCode Professional". SDKs are freely available, and fully documented. No one needs to pay to develop on Mac, and a good many developers didn't bother with the previous incarnation of the Mac Developer program because it was prohibitively expensive. All it did was get you pre-releases of OS X, hardware discounts, and live technical support for the XCode toolchain. As to supporting development on other platforms... That's just silly. Would you try to develop Win32 apps on a Linux box? Seriously?
- nitrogen 17y ago
  If the OP was referring to iHandheld devices, then it makes sense for anybody but Apple to support multiple host development platforms. For example, a lot of people are crazy enough to do embedded Linux development entirely on Windows. Plus there's no native advantage anywhere, so any host CPU type is as good as any other.
- iuguy 17y ago
  For handheld stuff like the iPad and iPhone, my point definitely stands. You wouldn't try to develop symbian software on a Nokia N95. As for developing Win32 apps on a Linux box, you can using Wine or Mono. Likewise you can do the reverse.
sjs 17y ago
It is free to develop for OS X. Why would Apple port Xcode to another OS? You don't hear anyone whine about MS not allowing you to run Visual Studio on Linux or OS X. What's the benefit to porting Xcode anyway? Having more shitty apps written by people who don't use, appreciate, or understand the Mac GUI? We neither want nor need such developers.
bkorte 17y ago
You don't need to pay to make apps - you can download XCode free (in fact, it comes with every Mac, no download necessary). Paying gives you access to additional support, OSX betas, etc
BigZaphod 17y ago
It is (and has been) free to develop and distribute Mac apps. The Mac Dev program just gives you access to some pre-release stuff and a bit of support and some other things like that. How does it even make sense to not require a Mac to develop native software for the Mac?
- iuguy 17y ago
  Er... I don't develop for Irix, but I know my code compiles on it for some of my work because I've had user feedback from Irix users. I also don't develop on Freescale Coldfire, I use a cross-compile toolchain, and an emulator for testing. I don't develop on Solaris, I deploy code and use virtualisation for testing on OpenSolaris.
robin_reala 17y ago
If you don’t have a Mac to develop on you don’t have a Mac to test on, and who wants to release untested software?
dazzawazza 17y ago
I assume you are moaning about not being able to develop iPhone/iPod/iPad apps on non apple hardware? I know what you are saying but do you seriously expect Apple to port XCode to non-osx platforms?
prodigal_erik 17y ago
They don't think they're a software company, and they're addicted to the margin on that $600 dongle to run their tools. Otherwise you'd be able to rent a VM running MacOS, like Linux and Windows.

If they really want to stimulate development, make it free and don't require a Mac to do the development. Less barriers == more developers.

by iuguy 17y ago

If they really want to stimulate development, make it free and don't require a Mac to do the development. Less barriers == more developers.

teilo 17y ago

XCode has been free for a very long time. It is not crippled. There is no "XCode Professional". SDKs are freely available, and fully documented. No one needs to pay to develop on Mac, and a good many developers didn't bother with the previous incarnation of the Mac Developer program because it was prohibitively expensive. All it did was get you pre-releases of OS X, hardware discounts, and live technical support for the XCode toolchain. As to supporting development on other platforms... That's just silly. Would you try to develop Win32 apps on a Linux box? Seriously?

nitrogen 17y ago
If the OP was referring to iHandheld devices, then it makes sense for anybody but Apple to support multiple host development platforms. For example, a lot of people are crazy enough to do embedded Linux development entirely on Windows. Plus there's no native advantage anywhere, so any host CPU type is as good as any other.
iuguy 17y ago
For handheld stuff like the iPad and iPhone, my point definitely stands. You wouldn't try to develop symbian software on a Nokia N95. As for developing Win32 apps on a Linux box, you can using Wine or Mono. Likewise you can do the reverse.

sjs 17y ago

It is free to develop for OS X. Why would Apple port Xcode to another OS? You don't hear anyone whine about MS not allowing you to run Visual Studio on Linux or OS X. What's the benefit to porting Xcode anyway? Having more shitty apps written by people who don't use, appreciate, or understand the Mac GUI? We neither want nor need such developers.

bkorte 17y ago

You don't need to pay to make apps - you can download XCode free (in fact, it comes with every Mac, no download necessary). Paying gives you access to additional support, OSX betas, etc

BigZaphod 17y ago

It is (and has been) free to develop and distribute Mac apps. The Mac Dev program just gives you access to some pre-release stuff and a bit of support and some other things like that. How does it even make sense to not require a Mac to develop native software for the Mac?

iuguy 17y ago
Er... I don't develop for Irix, but I know my code compiles on it for some of my work because I've had user feedback from Irix users. I also don't develop on Freescale Coldfire, I use a cross-compile toolchain, and an emulator for testing. I don't develop on Solaris, I deploy code and use virtualisation for testing on OpenSolaris.

robin_reala 17y ago

If you don’t have a Mac to develop on you don’t have a Mac to test on, and who wants to release untested software?

dazzawazza 17y ago

I assume you are moaning about not being able to develop iPhone/iPod/iPad apps on non apple hardware? I know what you are saying but do you seriously expect Apple to port XCode to non-osx platforms?

prodigal_erik 17y ago

They don't think they're a software company, and they're addicted to the margin on that $600 dongle to run their tools. Otherwise you'd be able to rent a VM running MacOS, like Linux and Windows.