That’s right but some desktop app can be web app too depending on what it is. Web app can be fast depending on how it’s build behind the scene.
Nowaday a lot of web app are just “displaying database datas” but I’m sure that we can make a lot of more in general (interactivity, calculation, CRM, ERP, complex things) but difficult to evaluate with the Xojo samples or videos that are (for me) not enough to show the potential if there are some in this regard.
The trial version doesn’t help as you choose the way to go before dev the app ^^ (if I let on the side the only desktop features).
That’s kind of subjective and personal, some people can and some can’t choose and decide. I won’t decide on behalf of them. They need to know what they want. If people don’t know, and even without knowing want to buy a license, one way to go is covering all areas, like getting a PRO license. All you can do wrong is discovering later that you paid more by something you could solve for less, but you can build everything the tool will offer you without the “oh, I could write a Desktop or Web module for this part, or try an Android helper tool, but my license does not cover it” and you’ll need to buy an upgrade.
It depends of what kind of man you are and the money you have. As a “non buisiness man” I have to make some choices. 799 $ is not a small fee for an individual (understand here non buisiness man).
So yeah, with a lof of money we can do anything doesn’t we ?
Yes the IDE is free and yes it’s not a subscription but it’s not cheap and more difficult than pay a monthly fee (when it’s reasonable) for some like me.
These days I think most people not in business just buy a license for the particular environment they want to use and only update when they need a new feature.
Out of the box, yes, something like that, it can do a lot more, but you have to code the custom controls using JavaScript. One of the main limitations on web, are that it has no way of executing code client side, so all is done in the server with the roundtrip of the events, the other is that your app is a self contained executable with its own single threaded server, so if you need expand it, the only way is to execute many instances of the app with an external load balancing.
There are many posts in the blog with this topics, you should read them.
At this stage, if there were ever a product crying out to be an ‘affordable’ subscription, similar to Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Suite, I’d say it was Xojo.
It’s been discussed for ages. The problem with a subscription is they’d have to lose the free IDE, otherwise you could subscribe for a month to build and then cancel again. And you’d also have to lose access when expired, unlike the current model. And you can’t support both a subscription and the current model at the same time. It’d be a jarring change and a disruption I’m not sure Xojo needs. I think making the IDE available for free is probably of greater value.
There’s a simple solution to this that I’ve been pushing for years. Users purchase a traditional license initially (at a lower rate than today’s rates). When the year is up, the user can then choose to let the license lapse (renewing when they see fit) - or they can choose to move to an affordable monthly subscription scheme. This keeps the cash flow coming in for Xojo (rather than the user picking and choosing if and when they’ll buy a new license), while minimising the risk to Xojo of a user just subscribing for one month to build apps and then cancelling - at the same time, it makes Xojo much more affordable for the user, and rewards their ongoing loyalty.
That would with 100% certainty make me abandon Xojo. That may make sense for those who code every day, but not for those who who code irregularly.
If that had been in effect when I came in for the last 19 years my only option would have been a subscription… and I would have passed on REALBasic. Given the bugs and of OS changes it is not practical to stay on same version forever (well least on a Mac).
In any case I don’t and won’t rent software. Even for Word and Excel I buy the forever versions and and use them until they stop working on the OS I am on (or these days unfortunately) if I get a new machine (which is usually in 5+ years intervals).
If MS stoped offering the forever licenses I would move to a free alternative and deal with the issues. If Xojo did that I would definitely move to other alternatives. That would be the last straw.
I change a little bit the subject here but first of all, if they want to show the power of Xojo, they should show other things than making a task manager app
Something that could be show benefits of using Xojo and explain his price structure.
You only get access to the subscription scheme when you’ve had a license, albeit at a lower rate than today’s rates. There’s no risk to having a free IDE in this case.
The problem was removing the reward for keeping the yearly licensing. I think that progressive discounts over time until a limit would create some incentive. Like 10% off the full price on the first renew and an extra 5% each additional year, until 30% total. If you cancel the renew, you will start over again renewing at 10% discount. Progressive discounts valid for any license above $200.
It’s literally the same as today, except you have the option of moving to a subscription scheme when your license is coming to an end. You could just let it lapse, as I said, and buy a further license when the time is right for you. Or you can choose to move to the subscription scheme at that point.
It is, because it took me about two years to implement everthing in my app, and convince myself that Xojo could do it. Only then did I buy a Lite licence. Up to then I’d been saving as binary and of course not building. Then I started testing on Win/Lin, and once I was sure I could build for those too, I bought a Desktop licence.
This subscription model along the lines of Office 365, Adobe, and others, is one I refuse to have anything to do with.
Other idea : They said “to pay via Paypal, email us at…” yes and no. Why ? the answer is very easy :
“Email us” is to have a link to pay via Paypal but this is just a payment page. If they had a paypal button, we could pay with Paypal with 4X payments. Paypal now for some amounts, allow us to pay in 4 times. It’s transparent for the vendor, in fact Paypal make the full payment and we, as a customer pay 4 monthly fees to Paypal.
I use this several times and it works great and allow me to afford some pricey solutions…
Maybe just in some selected locations.
I guess they can’t automate this procedure, just the full price.
If someone can afford to pay 1/4 of something, every month over the course of 4 months, to obtain that thing after full paid, they could save 1/4 of that value during 4 months and pay it in full at that same spot in time.
People could just start a trial of 4 months while developing and saving.
True, but in an ideal (for Xojo) world, Xojo customers would last for life. The first year is essentially nothing in the grand scheme of things. I guess unless you mean if you cancel your subscription you would need a full price year license to start the subscription again. I’m under the assumption that a year is needed to become eligible for a subscription, but you could start and stop it at will.
If you would need to restart from the beginning if you cancel, that is solved by a contract. You could still do monthly, but you need to commit to the first year. This is not an uncommon model, and easier for customers to understand and afford.
In which case… yeah you probably could do both the rapid release model and the subscription to give users the choice.
