[outsourced]

This is just a discussion of my observations about developer tools, since I've recently been researching languages and such for a future project.

There is one major benefit to choosing open source: cost. The tools are free or very inexpensive. For an individual like me, who doesn't have access to corporate money, this is very important. Free tools enable development.

On OS X alone, we have Objective-C, Java, Python, Perl, and AppleScript. Then there's SQLite, MySQL, PostreSQL for data. (Did I miss any free ones?)

FREE is good!
Compare this to the retail developer tools -- this is only a small sampling:
1) RealBASIC -- nice tool. Easy language. Multi-platform. Problem: $500 for Pro version. But wait! Want priority support? $300/yr. How about updates? $200/yr (pro version)

2) Revolution (revolution.runrev.com) -- $99 for starters; $300 for client-side dev.; and a whopping $900 for client-server dev capability! Updates (renewal)? $200. This company treats your software license like a magazine subscription. Who thought up this pricing model anyway?! Want "Gold Support" for only 10 incidents? $445!

3) Filemaker -- $300, $500, or more for basic to server tools. Of course, there's the licensing fees for multi-user access. Oh. You want to distribute your software? Pay runtime fees. Filemaker? Forget about it.

4) 4D (Fourth Dimension) -- see Filemaker.

Anyway, I remember the days when I could buy a language without having to take out a second mortgage. Anyone remember Turbo Pascal? Started at what? $30 and ended up at around $100 or so? How about Utah COBOL -- $50. Even artificial intelligence experimentation could be had with Turbo Prolog! Umm, nevermind.

Thanks to corporate pricing structures, individual developers are left out in the cold -- well...almost.

That's where open source saves the individual (and corporate) developer. We can use mostly FREE tools to create simple or complex products. Our imaginations can be let loose without being restrained by monetary concerns. And we can sell -- or give away -- our creations at a lower price.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by outsourced

On OS X alone, we have Objective-C, Java, Python, Perl, and AppleScript. Then there's SQLite, MySQL, PostreSQL for data. (Did I miss any free ones?)

Ruby! (Er…well, OK, the default Tiger install of Ruby is bugged, but the intention was there.)

[techtrucker]

How about free closed source...XCode?

[Brass]

Thank goodness that C (and most of it's derivatives) have always had good free tools (although not on the Mac).

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by Brass

Thank goodness that C (and most of it's derivatives) have always had good free tools (although not on the Mac).

err, gcc?

[Angus_D]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

err, gcc?

gcc is only since the move to OS X. On the classic Mac OS, there were not always good free tools, although MPW was free for quite some time.

[Brass]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

err, gcc?

Mac OS X is excellent in regard to the free tools available and always has been. However, before Mac OS X, there were very few non-commercial developer tools available at all for anything on the Mac (I don't wasn't actually aware of any at all, but as Angus said above, there was at least one, for a while).

In fact, I always wanted to do development on the Mac, but I simply could not even begin because there were no tools available to me (except for the old Metcom Modula2 floppy disk I had left over from a uni course in the late 80's).

With the high quality tools available for free for Mac OS X now, it is very easy for anyone to develop for Mac OS X at zero expense (apart from the OS and a Mac). This led to the rapid increase in the number of Mac OS X applications in the early days, and I'm sure that was a major contributing factor to the early success of Mac OS X in the market.