Why do I need a free account? What is the purpose of that?

I get a compiler from BSD, which is the source of Apple's code, without needing any account. Apple didn't need an account to get that code from BSD. Apple seems to do a disservice to the notion of the BSD license, which is not to impose restrictions on people (e.g. making them get a developer "account").

It sounds like you need a reminder that OS X is not based on BSD, it's a different operating system that had a lot of BSD stuff grafted on to the side of it - like Windows, but moreso. Also, BSD doesn't provide a compiler - they use GNU's compiler, and are switching to Apple's compiler.

Yes, I did need that reminder. Memory is failing today. But... does it change my question? GNU gives me a compiler without making me sign up for an "account".

OSX is not BSD, but there's no way it could even think about calling itself "UNIX" and getting certified as such without all the BSD code they took.

What else is OS X? It's a kernel from CMU. And whiz bang graphics. And lots of annoyances.

> GNU gives me a compiler without making me sign up for an "account".

What an outrageous thing... They force you to create a free account that wastes quite literally 6 minutes of your time... It's unacceptable, how dare they??!!1 (<-- sarcasm)

Apple's current C compiler, clang, did not originate in the BSD project, but is primarily developed by Apple itself.

"primarily", because the LLVM / clang project had its origins in academia (before the project and its team got acqui-hired by Apple), and because the project is open source, and thus still gets some amount of community contributions (probably not a huge proportion of the overall effort, though).

It's UIUC's license, which looks similar to BSD to me. They also have some MIT licensed code. http://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html#license

Essentially, yes. It's NCSA-OSL which is based on MIT, which is based on BSD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clang

Many projects use Clang/LLVM for their OpenCL implementations.

Haven't you heard? If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear from a surveillance state in which even your use of a compiler is closely monitored and tagged.

And if I may add, I hate the fact that I have to put credit card information on this free account.

What's so funny about all of this is that the functionaliity at issue is so basic. It's 1990's. Remember getting door to door directions from Mapquest and print them out?

Now add text-to-speech.

Now add lots and lots of hype, branding, smaller form factor, etc., etc.

This is door-to-door directions and text-to-speech. Perhaps greatly improved since the 90's, but certainly not new or cutting edge.

This is the type of stuff Apple, the world's wealthiest company, cannot get right. Because it's not their focus. They do not focus on something as simple as directions. That is just raw facts, nothing creative. No magic. Apple focusses on other things. Design. But if I just want to go from A to B and need directions, fast, I really don't give a shit about design. Apple cultists might. I don't.

Well, if you are an Apple cutltist, you won't be getting simple accurate directions the way the guy using Google, or Mapquest, or ..., is able to get them.