4 ms·
You need to buy the Mac before writing the app. You might make enough to repay that investment, but it's out of pocket to start with. For many people that is
by mkl 6y ago
You need to buy the Mac before writing the app. You might make enough to repay that investment, but it's out of pocket to start with. For many people that is a big problem.
- d3nj4l 6y agoThis also makes it difficult to write FOSS apps for iOS, because the developer would have to front the cost of a macOS workstation + the $99 yearly fee with no expectation of a return at all.
- projektfu 6y agoTechnically you can make it GNU compatible and charge for it with the source online. A user needs the build system but can modify your app and rerelease it at their convenience. I prefer the F-Droid model myself.
- threeseed 6y agoThis really is a ridiculous point to make. You need a Mac because important components like the XCode Simulator require OSX libraries in order to function. It's no different to me needed a Windows machine in order to build Office plugins.
- modeless 6y agoI regularly cross compile for Windows from Linux, and I don't need to buy any hardware from Microsoft.
- efreak 6y agoMicrosoft has little to do with the hardware you run their software on
- mkl 6y agoIf those software components were all that was needed, we could just run macOS in a VM, as we can easily do with Windows or Linux. Apple forbids that specifically to make all prospective Mac/iOS developers buy Mac hardware.