I just downloaded Xcode 4. Apparently Xcode is now only available through the new "OS X App Store" and the price tag is $4.99. It's not that I mind paying a token $4.99 for downloading Xcode even if it seems a bit cheap of Apple to charge money for a dev suite that used to be freely available (Microsoft charges a much higher price for anything beyond the very basic free edition of Visual Studio). What really annoys me though, is that the App Store is only accessible to residents of a select set of countries. Since I happen to live in Iceland which has up until now not had App Store access I have to jump through hoops to purchase App-Store-only software. The local press reports that we are finally going to get App Store access even if it will only include free apps and no access to media. The same source also reports that delays in Iceland being getting App Store access is a combination of us being a microstate and the fact that our fearless leaders came within a whisker of flushing the national economy down the toilet, so it's not just Apple that's to blame. Having to deal with gift card scalpers in order to be able to purchase software after investing a significant amount of money in an Apple laptop is annoying to say the least. If Apple decides to lock down OS X completely I'll be migrating to another OS. I'll put up with this kind of hoop jumping for acquiring software for an iPhone/iPad or an Android gadget but not for my desktop OS.
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