Technology

Naw.

When I was a student or freshly qualified, $100/year would've been a lot.

But it's more than just the money.

I've coded hobby / small android apps. I was charged a one off fee of $25, and I can use my nice gaming PC with my lovely high end mouse and keyboard, and over the years I've used Windows and Linux to write the apps, both from a shared hdd.

My apps aren't useful to the general public, but I've got a couple of decades experience in my field, and those apps are genuinely helpful to the people that use them.

For apple, the last time I looked into it, I'd have needed a specific type of apple computer (one with an intel chip, couldn't compile on the cheaper non-intel chips).

That automatically makes it a pain in the ass, I couldn't just use my normal PC for coding. I'd need to transfer assets to a network share or use a convoluted way of keeping the same assets updated on two computers, and look into ways I could use the same mouse/keyboard on both machines. Would using a splitter or KVM cause problems? Input lag when gaming? Would it need a power brick? Just finding the desk space for another PC case would mess up my speaker layout.

It just adds unnecessary complexity, and to slap a $100 yearly fee on top is just insulting.

Absolutely not worth my time for apps that would never make $100/year in sales (which after apples 30% cut, would need to be $142/year. Plus extra for taxes and occasional iMac upgrades).

Maybe things have changed since then, but every time I use a small, niche app or find a wonderful free app, I wonder if it'll exist on apple.