Xcode 4.1 now free, available for your Lion development pleasure

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Xcode 4.1 now free, available for your Lion development pleasure

For all of the developers who were wondering where Xcode 4.1 was this morning, it was just taking a short time out. It's now available for download in both the Mac App Store and through the regular developer channels.

Xcode formerly had a $4.99 price tag for non-developers; it's now available as a free download. Get to work writing those Lion apps, folks!

Source: TUAW

[Shaun N.]

Interesting

[Elliott]

I like the style of installer they used for it.

[.Neo]

Why Apple suddenly started asking money for this thing in the first place is still beyond me.

[BletchleyPark]

Free, then 4.99 then free again... make up your mind Apple!!

[Xtreme $niper]

Wow... I just saved 5 bucks for waiting. Weird.

[DeadEndAccount]

Why Apple suddenly started asking money for this thing in the first place is still beyond me.

Accounting? testing the waters whether people are prepared to pay? personally they should give it away for free but charge for a premium support.

[iKenndac]

Personally they should give it away for free but charge for a premium support.

They do. If you're a paid Mac (or iOS) developer, you get a number of support incidents each year. Otherwise, no support.

[DeadEndAccount]

They do. If you're a paid Mac (or iOS) developer, you get a number of support incidents each year. Otherwise, no support.

Sorry I meant in terms of "I've found a bug, please fix it" and Apple has a dedicated engineer to actually fix the bug in the operating system.

[what]

Sorry I meant in terms of "I've found a bug, please fix it" and Apple has a dedicated engineer to actually fix the bug in the operating system.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

[.Neo]

Accounting? testing the waters whether people are prepared to pay? personally they should give it away for free but charge for a premium support.

Yeah, see I stopped believing the whole accounting thing when Apple first said the same thing about major iOS updates for the iPod touch, but then suddenly started giving those away for free as well...

[Southern Patriot]

Yeah, see I stopped believing the whole accounting thing when Apple first said the same thing about major iOS updates for the iPod touch, but then suddenly started giving those away for free as well...

That is because the rules relating to that changed between when that first iPod touch update was released and when the later ones were released.

Still doesn't explain the situation with Xcode though.

This article explains it pretty well: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/accounting-rules-change-could-end-ipod-touch-update-fee.ars

[.Neo]

Still doesn't explain the situation with Xcode though.

Exactly.

[Rudy]

Xcode has always been free with OSX, what they don't include is a free upgrade to the NEXT major version (Snow Leopard came with 3.x so 4.x cost money for SL, Lion came with 4.1 so 5.x will cost money for Lion)

[Southern Patriot]

Xcode has always been free with OSX, what they don't include is a free upgrade to the NEXT major version (Snow Leopard came with 3.x so 4.x cost money for SL, Lion came with 4.1 so 5.x will cost money for Lion)

Actually, up until recently, you could always download the latest version of Xcode from Apple's developer site for free, even if you were only registered for a free developer account.

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!

[Rudy]

Actually, up until recently, you could always download the latest version of Xcode from Apple's developer site for free, even if you were only registered for a free developer account.

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!

Yes and no, Tiger could only run Xcode 2.x and Leopard could only run 3.x. Snow Leopard is the first version of OSX that can run more than one major version of Xcode

Oh and thanks :)

[Quillz]

I'm using the 4.2 DP builds. Is there anything major lacking in 4.1?

[Southern Patriot]

Yes and no, Tiger could only run Xcode 2.x and Leopard could only run 3.x. Snow Leopard is the first version of OSX that can run more than one major version of Xcode

Oh and thanks :)

Yeah, but you could still always get it for free, no matter what version of OS X you were running. Hell, you could even get it if you didn't have OS X at all, you just had no way of using it!

[Rudy]

Yeah, but you could still always get it for free, no matter what version of OS X you were running. Hell, you could even get it if you didn't have OS X at all, you just had no way of using it!

Just the same as 4.1 is available for free for anyone running Lion

It just makes no sense to let someone download it (and waste bandwidth) if he's not going to be able to run it anyway

[Southern Patriot]

Just the same as 4.1 is available for free for anyone running Lion

It just makes no sense to let someone download it (and waste bandwidth) if he's not going to be able to run it anyway

The entire point of the discussion though is the fact that other than the last few months when Apple has been charging $5, it has always been free to download, just by signing up for a free developer account.

[Rudy]

The entire point of the discussion though is the fact that other than the last few months when Apple has been charging $5, it has always been free to download, just by signing up for a free developer account.

They're charging for a Snow Leopard version (and they still are as far as I know), as I said before they've never had an OSX release have more than one major Xcode release before so charging $5 is like an upgrade fee (Xcode 3.2 was still free)

[.Neo]

They're charging for a Snow Leopard version (and they still are as far as I know), as I said before they've never had an OSX release have more than one major Xcode release before so charging $5 is like an upgrade fee (Xcode 3.2 was still free)

I get your point, but then again I don't get Apple's point. Asking those ?4 is just silly. Period. Just like asking those ?0,80 for FaceTime is retarded.

[Rudy]

I get your point, but then again I don't get Apple's point. Asking those ?4 is just silly. Period. Just like asking those ?0,80 for FaceTime is retarded.

I agree 110%

[thirteenth]

Yes and no, Tiger could only run Xcode 2.x and Leopard could only run 3.x. Snow Leopard is the first version of OSX that can run more than one major version of Xcode

Oh and thanks :)

Note that Xcode 2.5 could be used on Tiger and Leopard, as well as side by side with 3.0.

http://lists.apple.com/archives/webobjects-dev/2007/Oct/msg00560.html

(I could not find a better source, but there's many reports of it). Could not find versions earlier than Xcode 3.2 on ADC. I'm glad I downloaded the final versions of Xcode for Panther, Tiger, Leopard a few weeks ago . :o

[iKenndac]

Note that Xcode 2.5 could be used on Tiger and Leopard, as well as side by side with 3.0.

Xcode 2.5? Psh, whippersnappers. I'm still using Project Builder 1.1 on Mac OS X 10.1!