[quote=430394:@Ivan Tellez]Can you tell if they make an extra effort in offering something because they are big and have tons of money?, OR, They are big and have tons of money because they make an extra effort in offering something that the competitors dosnt?
[/quote]
Apple ? big and has tons of money and its current offering pale in comparison to many years ago
But then years ago you had to join the Apple Developer Program and PAID mightiliy for the privilege to BUY some great docs & discounted hardware. I recall getting the first set of Docs for QuickTime. It was measured in feet and probably weighed 20 pounds.
And we paid for it all. The dev program was tiered. I bought one personally and the company I worked for paid for several as well.
MS used to be the same. It was a paid program. Still is if you really want everything, An MSDN subscription.
Both NOW have tons of money for different reasons.
Apple because they sold a ton of iPods, iPads, iPhones & made a crap ton of money selling hardware - oh yeah that runs software but they sold the hardware not the software.
MS because they licensed everything to everyone and made a pile of money being dominant on the desktop. And still are.
Both have the money to give things away and NOT hurt the bottom line. Like Apples WWDC videos.
Those will never teach you how to be a great programmer - but they are nice to have as references.
I have no idea if WWDC is a money maker or break even proposition for Apple.
And it probably doesnt matter BECAUSE they do have so much income from other sources (hardware, software, services, app store, etc) Hell they make a pile from their invested income they havent done anything with.
MS isnt radically different
This is just me having watched these two in particular from the 1970’s to now
MS and Apple didnt start out giving everything away.
I paid for MS Macro Assembler way back when and it came with the barest of bones documentation.
Most of what I learned then came from various magazines and the technical documentation I had for the systems I had access to.
And I paid for all those too.
It may
There’s no guarantee that more / better docs or giving away the vides would drive more sales which would lead to more money
It may
You can geoff has sat down & looked at this to know
Not knowing what “can do better” means is tough though.
Give away the videos ? I dunno how much it cost to produce those but I dont think that is / was covered by anything other than purchases. Maybe when the costs are fully recovered they will give them away.
Not my dept. Never was. So I have no real insght there. I’m just damned glad they do them at all.
[quote=430394:@Ivan Tellez]If a new customer finds an option that offers more free learning courses (not just sample code), and another that sells them, that can have a huge weight in the buying desition.
[/quote]
Sure. That happens.
One way to expand that for Xojo is for US, members of the community, to not always say “Well Xojo should …”
If you want something then spend some time to create it and give it away
That gives you some perspective on what you’re asking them to do
It takes time. Effort.
And thats not “free” regardless
They really dont try to sell to just existing users - really
That I know for a fact
Xojo does give a bunch of stuff away already.
I’d guess its what they figure they can give away without it costing them a ton of money to give away.
Are they perfect ? No but then no company is
BUT I will say this, having been on both sides of the fence as a customer & a product engineer I have a LOT of sympathy for Xojo’s position. Its not easy