and i'm just remembering when a license for Borland C++ [Edit: lol, thanks for catching that autocorrect], one of the "better" compilers for windows(? maybe everything. it was a long time ago) was like 800$ in 1995 dollars.
the AI access is only free until it isn't. idk it just feels like maybe as an industry we've let them regress the field these last few years.
this isn't to say there aren't free alternatives, but that yet again we've got proprietary platforms making incompatible, proprietary improvements in competition with each other, that want us to pay them for the privilege just because everyone else decided to use their accelerators.
