The only competitors were Eclipse, and VI/VIM and other lightweight editors. But, even Eclipse, initially was part of the IBM premium enterprise tools, called Websphere.
So, just like they released the iOS updates for free, and MacOS X for free, (in 2008-2009), Apple has been a true innovator in this space. Microsoft and Co were always chasing behind.
And Visual Studio was much better than Xcode (and probably still is). Yes, it was not free, but it was worth its money. I know guy who used Visual Studio to write code for Linux.
Xcode is not even open source. Intellij is open source, Eclipse is open source, Visual Studio Code is open source.
At this point they should just write VSCode plugin to edit storyboards and language server for objective c and swift. Xcode is beyond redemption.
I was making exactly zero dollars as a developer at the time. Or, I suppose, negative-three-grand, actually...
So another thing: all of the documentation (which is in need of some work). Books, web sites, Youtube channels, free tutorials... That stuff wasn't free in 1993, either.
Mac price ~= PC + VS Professional
Xcode alone almost justifies the 30% cut on apps. A single developer can do remarkable things because of Xcode + Swift + SwiftUI+ Package Manager + all the fixings for cross platform (Linux, Windows... etc).
Strong opinion: this will win all the things (building a language tightly with a development environment, old intersection of software + hardware vibes)
Relatedly: Vapor is doing great things Swift Server Side, and Tokamak is bringing SwiftUI to the web like WebObjects aimed to do... I have yet to go deep into embedded works with Swift, but I believe that CL left some goodies based on his previous experience.
Even after being 5th degree burned by Mac gatekeeper, I hold these opinions -- eventually it will be write once, run everywhere.
Seeing where it's all heading makes one as giddy as a young Woz
Come on, that’s ridiculous even if I take it as an exaggeration. On what grounds would it have anything to do with the revenue one creates through an app they made? It would be an equivalent of the canvas’s manufacturer Mona Lisa is painted on wanting recognition for their work.
> It would be an equivalent of the canvas’s manufacturer Mona Lisa is painted on wanting recognition for their work.
Come on, that’s ridiculous even if I take it as an exaggeration.
Are we really trying to equate the millions of man hours it takes to get an M1 and A1_ into production, then fine tune the assembly calls for Swift, then the UI frameworks, QA, testing, planning, etc., till the point an app can be downloaded from the App Store by anyone on earth,
... to a canvas?
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In my mind, it is a buy in to the Apple ecosystem present and future. Yes my models look different without the 30% or 15% cut, but I have written apps in almost all languages now, and my time from idea to MVP, that can scale leveraging iCloud Sync, etc, is 1/10th that of anything else I've tried with Swift/Xcode/AppStore.
Additionally, developers get to ride in on Apple's market segment. They are doing a lot of heavy lifting to create a customer persona that we can follow if we learn a bit about the cohort... which is another separate value beyond a technical one (think FB level attributes baked into just targeting AppStore)...
Finally, I believe the current pricing encourages all of us to hold our apps to a higher standard, and I appreciate that. Things of intangible value (game coins) have high price elasticity because they directly derive little value... so producers of this good want to lower the cost because it affects their ability to profit. Apple has instead said, 'actually, no, we know the nature of what we sell, the good and the bad. Intangibles can be powerful tools or they can be soul sucking mind-holes. If your product is so price elastic, it doesn't hold the value we are trying to promote on AppStore.'
Honestly Apple shouldn't have anti-trust issues... its current messaging presently doesn't realize its value and strength, which gives it trouble.
Last bit: this is written in haste, so please don't take any of this personally or curtly... it's meant in respect.
How much does gas cost for truck drivers?
In what world do you live in, exactly? Plenty of FANG engineers don't get paid a fraction of that. If you dare gaze away from your belly button and, say, outside the US borders, there are plenty of developers who barely earn 20k pre-tax.
It's also not 'spending 100 dollars on their tools', it's spending $100 yearly to upload your app to the app store. You have to spend money on tools on top of that.
Truck drivers get their gas costs reimbursed. If they wouldn't, I'm sure that would complain about gas prices as well.
Only if they’re working for a boss. If you’re a starting independent truck driver, you pay for your own gas.
I would think iOS developers are in the same boat.