Apple offered a garbage deal to developers who spent $500 to receive an M1 DTK. They only increased the offer to $500 after getting a ton of blowback. https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2021/02/04/apple_demands_ret...

Thanks for the link,

"Apple, to smooth things over, is dangling $200 credit to be used against the purchase of an M1 Mac. Again, this hasn't been well received."

"After you returned the hardware, you got a $500 credit that you could apply to any Apple hardware, including the shipping version of the M1 Macs."

  We live [...]
  With rewritten histories and a fictional past
  - Master Race, New Model Army

Microsoft refused to offer warranty repairs for failed XBox 360 units, despite the issue being their own design flaw.

There were famously customers who had paid out of pocket for the same repair three or more times.

Should we still be claiming that Microsoft never changed their mind and decided to eat the cost of repairs, despite knowing the truth years later?

> On February 5, 2021, following developer backlash, Apple sent out another email that increased the discount code to US$500 and expanded the discount to be used on any other Apple devices. In addition, the code expired at the end of 2021, instead of May.

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developer_Transition_Kit

"Should we still be claiming that Microsoft never changed their mind [...]?"

No don't claim that!

I’m not clear about which part of my comment you are trying to call bullshit on. I’d love clarity so that I can better defend my first hand experience.

Perhaps it wasn't clear to you that I replied to someone else's comment and not yours?

Oh, now I see. HN thread reply indentation is way too small on mobile devices, imho

Me: "Thanks for the link"

You: "I’m not clear about which part of my comment you are trying to call bullshit on"

Me: <Confused>

I think a big difference here is that everyone knew that Apple was going to completely replace Intel Macs and eventually phase out Rosetta 2, like they have with previous architecture changes.

For Microsoft this is going to be just an additional niche platform. Microsoft has tried this dozens of times in the past without success. Windows NT was originally intended to run on several architectures, such as Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC. I am not surprised that developers are very lukewarm about porting to Windows on ARM.

I'd say the difference is that Apple made an effort to keep costs down for developers looking to add support for their new architecture.

That $500 DTK loaner included some major amenities:

> code-level technical support, access to one-on-one labs with Apple engineers

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developer_Transition_Kit

Qualcomm and Microsoft don't even seem to be offering a major discount on the hardware.

I mean, compared to alternative ARM mini computers with 32GB of RAM and 512GB storage and comparable performance they're offering a several hundred dollar discount...

Microsoft and Qualcomm aren't even offering to sell hardware below cost, much less loaning hardware and then issuing a store credit for the full amount you paid to join the program.

It doesn't show anywhere near the same level of commitment to getting the software in their ecosystem ported over to their new architecture.

I don't think you get it.

You get to keep the hardware. $900 gets you the hardware forever. You don't send it back after a year to buy a similarly equipped model with a credit from the deposit you put down. You just get a 32GB 512GB roughly M2 Pro performing machine for $900. Apple wants $1700 for that!

Why should you have to buy another desktop computer just to do additional work to support Microsoft and Qualcomm's new platform?

Especially a computer that you know lacks widespread software support for a new instruction set.

A developer will already own a computer with high end specs. They don't need to be forced to buy an additional desktop that runs software under emulation... Slowly.

Why should you spend $500 to rent a desktop computer for a year just to do additional work for Apple? Remember you don't get that $500 back. At best it went towards another Apple device. So either way you're down $500 even if you don't keep it and don't replace it.

You buy a devkit because you want to support the platform and potentially think it's worth it.

> You buy a devkit because you want to support the platform

That is not how business decisions work.

Keeping the costs down as much as possible is Microsoft and Qualcomm's job, and they aren't stepping up.

They aren't even offering their hardware below cost.

I didn't mean support in a fanboy sense but a business sense and you know it which is why you clipped away the "potentially worth it" part.

Was the DTK rented below cost? Have proof of that? $500 to rent a screenless 2018 iPad Pro in 2020 (that would have been about what $1000 retail for that config?) seems like a shit deal.

> I didn't mean support in a fanboy sense

This is indeed exactly how your posts are coming across.

It's obvious that Apple took a loss on the DTK hardware because it was never for sale to the public.

Apple manufactured it, shipped it out to developers, and then issued a credit for the full cost of joining the program when the hardware was returned. They ended up with used hardware that couldn't be sold.

An obvious loss.

Microsoft isn't even bundling a copy of the ARM version of Visual Studio, which would have a marginal cost for them of pretty much zero.

Right, but Apple wants that money after funding an actual dev program to port code to that platform. This dev platform is going to be much higher risk than a consumer platform and might be something you want to give back.