Got Macs? Get Apple Developer Connection SelectGot Macs? Get Apple Developer Connection Select

One of the best investments Ive made in Mac business technology is signing up for ADC Select. Thats Apple Developer Connection Select, a paid-for service thats geared primarily towards software developers, but which provides tremendous value for any organization thats deploying significant numbers of Macs.Apple offers six levels of ADC support. Theres a free version, called ADC Online which everyone should sign up for. It doesnt get you much, though you do get a newsletter and access to developer tools and SDK (software development kits).

The paid ADC programs range from a $99/year student membership up to a $3,499/year premiere level, geared toward professional software developers. If you are developing software for the Mac, at least one member of your team should have ADC Premiere. If youre not developing software, its overkill.

For the bulk of Mac-friendly shops, the right level is the $499/year ADC Select. Thats what I have. It gets you seed versions of future Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server code, which means that you can begin evaluating them on test hardware.

The ADC Select level also includes two tech support calls, access to compatibility labs, and other stuff that you might not need, like business and marketing programs. Like I said, the ADC programs are targeted primarily at software developers. However, the price is a bargain when it gets you early access to important Apple technologies  as well as newsletters  that might affect future deployments.

Note: Those are all U.S. prices. The programs may be different outside the United States.