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Comment by DangerousPie | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, the situation is significantly better in the Apple phone market.

Where can I buy a $200 apple phone? And how do I develop software for it without buying a $1000 macbook? Oh, and I have to pay $100/year for the privilege of being able to develop software for my own hardware, right?

Buy a $400 device and hold onto it for a few years. The android device needs to be replaced every 2 years and subjects you to misery for the last half of its life.

The old iPhone is going to work as well as, if not better than, a new android device - Apple tends to be about 5 years ahead of Qualcomm in performance, and they actually service their devices. My mom is using my iPhone 6S from 2015 that feels about as snappy as my 2018 XR. And that feels snappier than a pixel 4.

Very few people are software developers so the Mac req to develop is a non-issue.

Not true - I replace my Android phones every 4-5 years.

My phone is older than that, and it's working perfectly fine. It's still getting updates, too. No idea what you're talking about or where you're getting your information from, but it's clearly wrong and biased. Makes sense I suppose, when you've spent so much money to buy into the apple ecosystem you just can't help but defend it.

Don't forget that GPL software is banned from the App Store.

Slightly disingenuous: the GPL bans itself from the App Store because the App Store imposes additional restrictions on the software.

Not disingenuous at all. Apple themselves removed the VLC app from the App Store[1] because the GPL is not compatible with their terms and conditions. Apple will also reject applications if they're made aware that they're GPL.

[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/no-gpl-apps-for-apples-app-sto...

Right, but the terms of the licence that VPL itself adopted forbids VPL from making its own software available in the App Store, given the known restrictions.

eBay and eBay. Developing for your own device is free.

How do I send this software to my friends without spending a ridiculous amount of money? I don't have a mac, so I presumably would have to spend (at least) $1k to buy one first. That's already $1k more than I ever spent on developing for android.

And then, to actually develop software, I would have to work on this mac operating system. I don't know who came up with their keybindings and shortcuts, but it's an absolute inconsistent mess when compared to any other OS. Whenever I have to touch a mac to assist a coworker it's utterly frustrating.

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