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I was more reacting to the common argument that "$5 is not expensive". My apologies if that's not what they were addressing in this comment. That said, Xcode 3

by holman 16y ago

I was more reacting to the common argument that "$5 is not expensive". My apologies if that's not what they were addressing in this comment. That said, Xcode 3 doesn't satisfy the requirement of being easy or quick to install for a casual user.

dekz 16y ago
What isn't easy about installing from the disc given when you bought the mac? Don't have a your mac discs anymore? Download it or borrow someone elses. If you don't want the extra crud of iOS firmwares, disable it. To be honest it's quite "easy" to install for any user. Quick on the other hand, how many 4.5gb installations are quick?
- cytzol 16y ago
  FWIW, it doesn't come with the new Air models.
- jfelchner 16y ago
  I think the point wasn't that a 4.5gb installation should be quick. It was that it shouldn't require a 4.5gb installation if all you want is gcc. More like a 50MB installation.
matt2224 16y ago
What's this rubbish about Xcode 3 being hard to install? It's on your OS X CD. From there on, it's just a one-click install process. Even if you downloaded it, the process is the same. If a developer can't be bothered to do that, then they probably dont give a damn in the first place. Casual users =/= developers
bradleyland 16y ago
What it comes down to is a question of principle. The argument that development tools should be free and readily available is a principle of software freedom. I don't want to paint this as black & white, because things rarely are, but on the continuum of free (as in freedom) vs non-free, you'd have to live in a cave on the moon to still cling to the idea that Apple is anywhere near the free side of the scale. You, as a developer, have to make a decision about how you will support your principles. Apple has certainly made theirs. They view their entire platform as theirs to do with as they wish. That is the anti-thesis of freedom. Do not expect this to change.

by holman 16y ago

dekz 16y ago

What isn't easy about installing from the disc given when you bought the mac? Don't have a your mac discs anymore? Download it or borrow someone elses. If you don't want the extra crud of iOS firmwares, disable it. To be honest it's quite "easy" to install for any user. Quick on the other hand, how many 4.5gb installations are quick?

cytzol 16y ago
FWIW, it doesn't come with the new Air models.
jfelchner 16y ago
I think the point wasn't that a 4.5gb installation should be quick. It was that it shouldn't require a 4.5gb installation if all you want is gcc. More like a 50MB installation.

matt2224 16y ago

What's this rubbish about Xcode 3 being hard to install? It's on your OS X CD. From there on, it's just a one-click install process. Even if you downloaded it, the process is the same. If a developer can't be bothered to do that, then they probably dont give a damn in the first place. Casual users =/= developers

bradleyland 16y ago

What it comes down to is a question of principle. The argument that development tools should be free and readily available is a principle of software freedom. I don't want to paint this as black & white, because things rarely are, but on the continuum of free (as in freedom) vs non-free, you'd have to live in a cave on the moon to still cling to the idea that Apple is anywhere near the free side of the scale. You, as a developer, have to make a decision about how you will support your principles. Apple has certainly made theirs. They view their entire platform as theirs to do with as they wish. That is the anti-thesis of freedom. Do not expect this to change.