Eclipse: $0
NetBeans: $0
DevShed C++: $0
Emacs: $0
The complete GNU compiler collection: $0
Xcode 3: $0
NetBeans: $0
DevShed C++: $0
Emacs: $0
The complete GNU compiler collection: $0
Xcode 3: $0
Yes, I finally decided to take the plunge and buy it in December, after a few years using Eclipse. Never going back.
I used to be a big Eclipse proponent, but I must say I don't understand the "I want free tooling" mentality anymore. If it's a tool you are going to use every day, the cost is nothing compared to the productivity gains.
I have to periodically check whether my version is out of date. When it is, I have to find the download URL, click on it, remember to come back when the package has downloaded, and run the installer. I have to do this on all of my machines.
Sure, this isn't all that much work. But $4.99 isn't that much money, either.
If paying for the software were easy for everyone who has a Mac everywhere, I would feel a little bit uncomfortable, but that would be all. My point is that this move may effectively shut off parts of the world that have no access to the Mac App Store.
Don't get me wrong: I like Apple and used Apple computers since my early days as an Apple II developer. My main computers run Linux, but I like to keep a Mac around. What worries me is that this move actually hurts Apple a lot more than we may realize at first.
It's, of course, next to impossible to develop Mac software without a Mac and, since we are talking about Xcode, access to a modern Mac is a necessary condition.
Now, if I want to update anything I type the following in the command line:
sudo apt-get udpdate sudo apt-get upgrade
... And that is all. Unless you meant some other kind of pain and suffering?
http://imgur.com/cWRp6 http://imgur.com/8LHXW
This isn't the end of the world, it is not like now you no longer have access to the development tools. I wonder like a lot of people if this has to do with tax laws.
> it is not like now you no longer have access
> to the development tools
If it just slowly dies, then this is a very shrewd move by Apple because the pain (i.e. "I have to pay to get any dev tools") comes some time in the future and the people can dismiss the nay-sayers right now with, "but you can still get X Code 3 for free!" If Apple were to immediately pull XCode 3, and all access to dev tools was pay-only, then it would be a lot easier for more people to side with the people decrying this move.
I don't know what the future holds, I don't work at Apple, and if I did I am pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed to tell you.
Sure we can speculate at this point, honestly I think that Xcode 3 has run its course and that Xcode 4 is the future.
Xcode 4 being priced the way it is may be for tax reasons, Xcode 4 may be shipped with OS X Lion, Xcode 4 may later on be offered as a $50 package on the Mac App Store. We don't know. For now I hope, and tend to agree with people that Xcode 4 will be bundled with OS X Lion and at that point will be free once more.