I wanted to renew my Xojo Lite license for macOS, but I read that “Xojo Lite licenses have been discontinued and are no longer available for purchase.”
The only licenses left are the $500 Desktop licenses! This effectively prevents individuals like me—who develop free apps just for fun—from accessing Xojo.
What a disappointment! I’ll have to give up development or switch to Xcode!
Dany
As you said AND according to mémory AND Xojo Store: Buy
Another point: there is no renew (or I misread) for some years (unless your license is still running - unsure of that).
Yes, there are free solutions to switch to.
Do you need to be able to distribute these apps? I ask because you can run your projects from the IDE without a license at all.
UK/US :
I think it would have been possible (this has already been done in the past by other development tools) to offer a specific, less expensive license that prohibits the commercial distribution of the generated apps (freeware only).
All of this reminds me of Borland’s Delphi era (Pascal language) back when I was using Windows; when they were acquired, they started offering very expensive licenses and forgot about individual users. Generally speaking, that ends badly (for everyone).
Dan
FR :
je pense qu’il aurait été possible (cela a déjà été fait dans le passé par d’autres outils de développement) de proposer une licence spécifique et moins chère qui interdit la commercialisation des apps générées (uniquement des freewares) .
Tout cela me rappelle la période Delphi de Borland (langage Pascal) à l’époque où j’étais sous Windows lorsqu’ils ont été racheté, ils ont alors proposés des licences très chères et oubliés les particuliers. En général, ca se termine mal (pour tout le monde).
Dan
So many FREE options out there an Xojo keeps pushing clients to them…
Look on the bright side, Xojo just gave you a reason not to pay them $100.
I also complained a few months ago about the new license costs for new customers or to renew the lic. I accepted that.
But I hope XOJO will check the overall income of US$ since the lic change and compare it to the situation before. If the overall sold US$ is at least 20% more than same compared time old lic prices then they made all right! But if less than 20% more sold US$ or only equal or badest less than before lic price / lic models change it was an mistake.
Geoff will know that customers (pro) which left XOJO will newer come back. And new users are needed - hard with that new lic models / high prices for hobby programmers.
Solution if for XOJO to solve problem of programming cost for XOJO vs lic models/price?
Option 1: Let android dev option die! freeze Android at the state of know - maybe only fix some major bugs - no new features, no new support for newer OSes. Saves Money for XOJO - and let programmers have more time for the Major XOJO Desktop/Web solutions.
Option 2: Think about an PRO_Tiny Licens which can only build for up to 2 targets (plus free Rasperry). For example : Mac/Win Desktop, Mac/Web, Mac/Linux etc.
True,
there are free or cheap solutions available. The question is for how long will these be free/cheap ?
You can always email hello@xojo.com and ask if there is some coupon code or special offer available.
That’s true, and they are accommodating and friendly, for sure. It’s hardly a long term or reliable solution to a specific problem, though, is it.
This doesn’t just affect the entry level market. It affects the pro part of the market too, something I fear Xojo Inc haven’t taken into consideration, despite efforts made. Why? It affects overall confidence. It affects user base numbers which can be important to the pro market. It has a knock-on effect beyond just “cheaper licenses”. I worry that the damage is already done, even if they change course now.
I know we have beaten this conversation to death, but to be totally honest, we live in a profoundly different world for developers today than we did a year ago when Xojo made this decision.
Today, for less than the cost of a Xojo license, a person can use an LLM to convert their Xojo code to another, often free language. That completely changes the decision-making process for developers choosing a programming language.
I’m certainly not insensitive to inflation, the need for further investment in Xojo and its engineers. And frankly I am loving a lot of the changes that have been coming to the language lately, which will likely keep me personally subscribed for years to come.
But I hope that Xojo will reconsider the discontinuation of the Lite license in light of these changing market conditions. It’s always cheaper to retain customers than to attract new ones.
Even though the loss of a lite license doesn’t affect me directly, as a form of protest, I went from auto-renewing to waiting for features I actually want to pay for.
We are in a situation where even I am considering utilizing an LLM to port my app from Xojo so that I can gain mobile support since Xojo refuses to give us proper cross platform projects. That would be one less pro license on their books, even at my reduced rate of renewal.
Hello,
To answer your questions: Yes, I distribute my free apps. They are signed and notarized and are regularly featured in articles in the French trade press.
i have recently been looking at Lazarus. It is free to develop with. Only problem is that it is based on Pascal. It’s been many years since I used Pascal.
Your app is great!
I currently use CleanMyMac, and I was wondering if you could put together a comparison between the two apps. I think that would be both useful and interesting for potential users.
One thing I noticed on your website is that you accept payments in the form of support or donations.
Since you do receive some form of financial support, it might be difficult to describe the app as entirely free, at least in the strictest sense of the word.
Have you considered reaching out to Geoff Perlman to discuss obtaining a license? Perhaps you could negotiate a special arrangement, similar to those available to schools or nonprofit organizations, that would allow you to use the software under favorable terms while creating a win-win situation for both parties.
Pascal does support object-oriented programming, but its structure and syntax feel rather dated to me. Class declarations are typically placed in specific sections of the code, following a more traditional programming structure. I find this approach less intuitive and, in some cases, makes the resulting code harder to read and maintain.
A while ago, I tried programming with Delphi, but I eventually decided against it, regardless of the licensing cost.
I chose Xojo instead because I prefer its approach to development, which I find more intuitive, straightforward, and productive.
Please @ChristopheDV
Could you stop promoting Swift (or other programming languages) in the Xojo forum?
Thank you.
If this happens, many other users would be eligible for the very same treatment.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect a Xojo license to be offered without a clear rationale.
That said, I believe there could be an opportunity to negotiate with Geoff by presenting a proposal that creates value for both sides.
Rather than simply requesting a license, I think it would be more productive to identify a mutually beneficial arrangement that gives Xojo a compelling reason to consider the proposal, while ensuring that the potential benefits outweigh any risks or disadvantages for the company.
As a user I don’t want to have to beg. As an introvert this makes me shudder.
Also Geoff’s silence on the topic is enough.