The true costs of development tools
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:35 am
In a spin off from a comment that was made yesterday where essentially a solution/method was dismissed because it 'cost money' as it was *thought* to be only available as part of a commercially based licensed application.
This left me curious as to what the general perception is with regards the true cost of development tools.
My take, personally, regardless of license type, the 'best tool for the job' is the one which maximises your productivity and work flow. If that particular tool costs money, it will pay for itself over a period of time by virtue of your increased productivity. Surely accepting a solution/tool/method based purely on the fact that it's cheaper/free although may job done at a sacrafice of productivity, it will ultimately cost you more in the long run?
For what it's worth, my 'day to day' development tools consist of a range freeware, shareware, open source, commercial and in house developed tools. I wouldn't class any free or low cost development tool as inferior to their commercial couterparts without first evaluating it, similarly, I don't assume that a commercial tool is superior in any way just because it costs money.
This left me curious as to what the general perception is with regards the true cost of development tools.
My take, personally, regardless of license type, the 'best tool for the job' is the one which maximises your productivity and work flow. If that particular tool costs money, it will pay for itself over a period of time by virtue of your increased productivity. Surely accepting a solution/tool/method based purely on the fact that it's cheaper/free although may job done at a sacrafice of productivity, it will ultimately cost you more in the long run?
For what it's worth, my 'day to day' development tools consist of a range freeware, shareware, open source, commercial and in house developed tools. I wouldn't class any free or low cost development tool as inferior to their commercial couterparts without first evaluating it, similarly, I don't assume that a commercial tool is superior in any way just because it costs money.