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NEWS! New Version of FB -- June 10, 2008The new Command menu has Run [FBtoC] so that you may easily create universal applications from the editor without working with a separate application. Note: if you're planning to use the new Run [FBtoC] command from within the FB Editor, please refer to the "Connecting to FBtoC" document for one-time setup steps. Click here to download. NEWS! FB II is Available for older Macs -- April 19, 2008If you have an older (68K) Mac, you can still run FutureBASIC. Click here to download. NEWS! FB is Freeware!-- January 1, 2008FutureBASIC is now freeware! Starting January 1, 2008, FB will become freeware. Does this mean that work on the product will come to a halt? Absolutely not. For starters, you will be able to download a revised editor that addresses problems with OS X, System10.5. Later, you will be able to download the exciting new translator under construction by the FBtoC team that will allow FB code to be compiled by the gcc compiler. Click here for additional information and downloads. Example files-- January 12, 2008All of the example files available on the FB CD can now be obtained right here Click here to download. FutureBASIC 4Price: Freeware. The first and foremost alternative to REALbasic is FutureBASIC from Staz Software. Although not cross-platform, its support of the Macintosh is very strong. Not only does it fully support both native Mac OS X and Classic PowerPC compilations, FutureBASIC continues support for 68K compilations, the only commercial compiler that I know of which still does. Moreover, it even supports building apps that will run on pre-System 7 machines! The same project can be used to build an app to run on a Mac Plus running System 6.0.5 or as one to run on a Power Mac G5 running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. That's dedication, man. While REALbasic enforces an object-oriented coding paradigm, FutureBASIC allows for more structured programming, a simpler and more common approach for most Basic programmers. For those who need to be jump started, FB also includes a rather large number of sample projects to start you off with. Chris Stasny, head of Staz Software, was kind enough to talk with me about FutureBASIC. This past year has been an exceedingly difficult one as Staz Software was directly hit by Hurricane Katrina, knocking them out of business for three full months (ouch). Even today, phone lines remains down and internet access is sketchy. Despite this, he was still able to deliver Release 3 of FB4 in April, a significant accomplishment. Chris says that he definitely plans to support universal binaries in a future release, but (understandably) could not state exactly when this would be delivered. When I first went into researching this article, I was admittedly pretty skeptical about FutureBASIC. However, after thoroughly reviewing the product, I have come away very impressed. For those looking for an viable alternative to REALbasic, this author recommends FutureBASIC.
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